The Zeta War, The Last Epsilon
by Sergeant Sargent II
Summary: There was more going on before and during A&O than Kate or anyone could have guessed. Humphrey has a past. A long and impressive one. One that helped cause the Jasper conflict in the first place. He's not the only one. For those who followed "The Lone Wolf, The dire Warrior," Decca's back in action! Frank is a character! This is a tale of warriors, playing a bloody game called War.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**This is an author approved spin off of another Fan Fiction story, **_**The Lone Wolf, The dire Warrior**_**, by Kurama's Final Nightmare. I've talked to K-F-N, who has graciously allowed me to write this. The makers of A&O own the movie. K-F-N owns his OC's and plot. I claim any OC's and plot points that I create. We may share ideas on this, so this could be fun.**

**This backstory messed with several plot points from the original movie in a big way. Time spans for one. Also, dog and wolf life spans, and their maturity at various ages. For the purposes of this story, three to five years old is highschool age, five is full adult maturity. Six to seven is college age. I will mess with several more things before I'm finished. Those who read the original by K-F-N know that it didn't look good for the canon pairing. Don't expect things to get much better, but also keep in mind that I have no idea where I'm going with this. The canon pairings are not sacred to me, even though I like Humphrey/Kate. I also have plans for another A&O story that will not screw up the canon pairing so badly.**

**Basically, this story takes the movie and treats it like a worm's eye view of a very different story.**

**The rating is M, which is where it belongs. Decca has some intense shit in his backstory, part of which I have chosen to write, so be forewarned. That alone puts this well into M territory. I didn't realize just how black parts of this chapter would get until I sat down and wrote it. The rating is also M for language and humor, which could go anywhere. Some characters may swear, while others will not. This will be part of their characterization in some cases, and will add some realism. Most people cuss like pirates, particularly in stressful situations. There will be several violent and personal deaths along with a good many fights. There will be neither lemons nor similarly explicit content. **

**This will start off with a less than elegant narrated introduction, which will once over the events already written by K-F-N, and mention the changes and embellishments I've made. Chapter One will pick up right after the Cliffhanger. I did a lot of embellishing. **

**Also, I love to throw out references and quotes, so if you see mention of the Valkyrie of Jasper, go read **_**The Week After**_** by DLW. They will be only references; I won't steal characters or step on anyone's toes. I may borrow plot skeletons, but I will try not to make them central to the story. One in this prologue is included because I needed an excuse for some characters to be running around doing stuff. Some of you will recognize it. It won't be hard to spot the influence of some of my favorite stories in this. I borrowed a lot from **_**Warriors,**_** by Erin Hunter, in writing this prologue. I also stole one of the most memorable quotes from the **_**A Team**_** movie. One of my OC's will sing everything from Irish jigs and drinking songs to contemporary country music. **

**If I mention a "hug" or an "embrace" it's just like in **_**Balto**_**.**

**I will use some military terminology, but I will also make up just as much stuff on the spot.**

**I've made a number of changes, both from the movie and K-F-N's plot. Some are small, but important, while others are major plot expansions that need no additional explanations. Some names may differ from K-F-N's original. I chose to deviate on one in particular.**

**Several portions are quoted almost directly from K-F-N's original. Some points within these sections have been edited for continuity in this spin off. **

**It occurs to me that this prologue has enough stuff to be turned into a substantial story of its own. I may come back and do that.**

******I discovered [had pointed out to me...] that there is a button at the top of this page to change font size and LINE SPACING. Apparently some people don't like stories that are "blocky" and I have to admit it gets difficult reading stuff single spaced and all bunched up like this, so if you are one of these people, try the buttons! They help this problem!**

**Without further adieu, behold the longest prologue ever.**

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**"Warm yourself by by the fire, son. The morning will come soon. I'll tell you stories of a better time, in a place that we once knew."**

**-Prayer of the Refugee, Rise Against**

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In all of Canada, there are around 55,000 wolves, broken up into hundreds of packs, all constantly competing for territory and food. War is a constant threat, one that claims numerous lives and leaves a swath of destruction where it strikes.

There is a group of nearly seven hundred of these wolves however, who live in the shadows, unknown to the greater population. These wolves, the Zetas, said to be the closest living descendants of the legendary Dire Wolves, have served for generations as an elite Special Operations force keeping peace in any way possible. They are further divided into five clans, each with a responsibility to watch over a region of the north. One cannot "join" the Zetas. The families that make up the clans are ancient, and have borne the responsibility for centuries. One must be born into the Zetas. Youths are trained from puphood to fight, scheme, kill, and manipulate. The Zetas are ruled by a council of elders, made up of one member elected from each major family within each Clan. This is known, creatively enough, as the Elder Council.

The Zetas work closely with the pack leaders as ambassadors and advisors, enter packs under various guises to influence their politics, and in rare cases, help fight where necessary to ensure the quick resolution of a conflict. They run every kind of mission, from undercover work, to direct action strikes taking out bears or mountain lions that dare to encroach on pack territory. The Zetas eliminate such targets themselves in order to protect the packs from excessive loss of life trying to bring down enemies they have little experience fighting. Other times, the mission is as subtle as placing one or two moles in a pack to spread ideas, and shape social opinion and prevent violence. Very, very seldom, when deemed absolutely necessary, they work as assassins to quietly remove dangerous or inflammatory leaders in ways that would never smell of foul play, even to those who know how the Zetas operate.

If all the wolves in the packs knew just how much power the Zetas held over their lives, deciding wars, manipulating pack leaders, holding lives in their paws, the result would be an uproar that might trigger a massive conflict the likes of which no wolf has seen in living memory. For this reason, all Zeta operations are carried out in secret, and the identity of every Zeta operator is closely guarded. Every pack leader and his deputy alpha know of the Zetas, but have only ever met one or two, usually assigned to their pack. No wolf could tell a Zeta from any other wolf by appearances, and the Zetas are masters at blending in. Nearly all leaders resent the Zetas, but the wisest ones see the usefulness of such a force. Many wars can be entirely prevented, or a violent territorial campaign halted by clandestine intervention.

The Clans hold a brotherly rivalry, but joint operations are common. They help train each other's pups and trade information constantly. They even intermarry on occasion. The Elder Council rules, but Special Operations Comand, or SOCOM, is the organization that coordinates the five clans, according to the Council's orders.

The American equivalents are the Kappas, or Kap-Teams, doing much the same job as the Zetas, but with an extra emphasis on urban tactics, since America has an infinitely larger population of dogs than wolves. The Kappas are better trained to work near human populations. They operate in nine districts, excluding California, Washington, and Oregon, a region that seceded fully four decades ago and operates on its own rules.

Relations between these three powers are often strained. The Republic of the West refuses to allow any outside forces to operate inside its borders. There is conflict between the American style population of California in the south, which controls the government, and the northern wolf packs. The region can no longer receive much help from either the Kappas or Zetas, and communication in the area is sketchy. The Zetas and Kappas occasionally run joint operations, but neither side enjoys it, since although they carry out the same mission, the two groups are quite different.

The Zetas hold incredible power, but they try to strike a balance by allowing pack politics to play out as it must and stepping in only when a conflict risks igniting unnecessary war, or when one pack is clearly a warmongering bully. Violent intervention is always the last and most dangerous step, since such an overt act would mean risking discovery. Also, many fear that such intervention, violent or otherwise, is an arbitrary choice that the Zetas have no right to make. In truth, partly due to this fear, the Zetas leave more conflicts to run their course than they stop.

The Zetas have always carried the responsibility of ensuring peace in the far north with pride and honor. Only a few times in their history has corruption threatened that goal.

While some believe the Zetas overstep their self appointed mandate to protect, others claim that a more direct approach would be more effective. After defending the packs for so long, living as the most elite warriors in the north, many begin to view the pack wolves as a lower species, fit only to be controlled. They feel that it would be both more effective and more fitting for the Zetas to simply depose the current pack leaders and establish permanent dictatorships, answerable to the Elder Council, who would command them, eliminating any need for war, rather than always trying to corral their violence. The elders have always argued that this would be prideful, and foolish, an injustice the likes of which it is their duty to guard against.

The last leader to seriously back this kind of takeover was the leader of Zeta clan Epsilon, a wolf named Haldric. The Epsilon Clan, numbering nearly three hundred Zeta operators, was responsible for the safety of the Rocky Mountain region. Haldric led a movement to gain support within his own clan, then presented his case to the Elder Council. They crushed any and all such plans immediately. In response, the Epsilon leader threatened to lead a violent takeover of the council, since he lead the largest and arguably the most powerful of the five clans, controlling the largest population of pack wolves, and could manipulate the packs in his region into fighting for his cause with relative ease. He believed the old peace-loving elders would fold at the threat of such violence, for his threat had merit. If he chose to fight, there was no guarantee the other four clans, Gamma, Delta, Theta, and Sigma, would be able to stop him.

The leader underestimated his standing within his own pack, however. When the Clan learned of the council's ruling, many who had supported him backed down. They refused to follow him, and turned him out. The council would have killed him, to prevent him from stirring up further trouble, but he hadn't become leader by luck. He was wily enough to escape, but not before leaving a reminder for those who betrayed him. Of all the members of his own pack who turned their backs on him, one hurt the most.

Haldric's mate, Cerebella, had never supported his quest for power and was the first to denounce his authority. Some believed it was this act that finally pushed him over the edge into madness. On the night they came to capture him, the leader killed his mate. It was bloody fight worthy to be included in every song of battle ever sung, for she fought for both herself and the lives of their young pups. When he finally landed a crippling blow, sinking his fangs through the base of her spine and paralyzing her whole back half, he gained the upper paw and laughed. Then he slashed a mighty wound in her belly, and as she bled, moved on to the four pups, barely a month and a half old, all cowering in the back of the den. The boldest one stepped forward and growled, ready to defend his littermates. He was jet black except for a patch of storm cloud gray on his chin, throat, and underbelly. He looked exactly like his father.

"Good, good!" the father chuckled. "You're the brave one, the strongest. Let this be a lesson to you then, so you can make the most of it: All that matters is power. What you can take is yours. What you cannot defend, you will lose." He looked back at his mate as her blood poured into the dirt, and smiled darkly. "Isn't that right, my darling?"

She screamed in horror, trying to crawl towards her pups with only her front paws as her strength flowed away with her blood. One of the pups tried to run past and out of the den, but his father picked the pup's tiny feet out from beneath him, then brought his own paw down on the youngin's neck, snapping it with the sharp crack of small bones.

The brave one leapt, flying straight for his father's face, but the grown wolf swatted him playfully aside, to tumble into the side of the den.

The other two saw an opening and tried to escape where their sibling had failed, but to no avail. Haldric brought his paw down on the first, pinning him in place, and snapped up the other, the only sister of the litter, jaws fastened around her skull, and lifted her flailing form off the ground as she squealed in pain and terror, desperately pawing the air as her mother's screams bounced off the walls of the den, begging, pleading, as he shook the pup like a dog shakes small prey to finish it off, whipping his head from side to side, destroying her spine in the process, and finally tossed her broken body away.

Then he looked down at the other, still trapped under his paw, and shook his head sadly. "And the runt. Better you should die here." Then, with sadness, but no real pity, he pressed down on the pup's rib cage as the frightened little one struggled. Cerebella screamed again as her pup's ribs splintered under her mate's massive paw, a terrible wail that ended in fitful sobbing as Haldric lifted his paw, now covered in her child's blood, and watched as his young son twitched and struggled, then was still.

Suddenly, a furry shape flew across the den. This time, the brave pup found his mark, latching onto his father's snout and biting and clawing with all his might. Haldric roared and staggered, crying out again as the pup scored his claws across his father's right eye. The father finally dislodged the pup and slammed him down, belly up with a paw to his throat holding him down. The pup growled angrily back up at the massive wolf. He showed no fear. The father smiled, keeping his bleeding eye shut tight, and laughed again. Gripping the pups chin with his paw, Haldric turned the youngin's head to look at his mother, too weak now to scream as the last of her blood seeped into the dirt. Fear for her last pup filled her eyes.

"Be the best, little Decca, for power is the only thing that matters. Without it, you have nothing. All that you love will be destroyed around you." When he lifted his paw, the little pup immediately sprang up to attack him again, but only received a blow to the head that left him reeling and unable to stand. Haldric then walked over to his mate and reached down to nuzzle her ear. "Goodbye, my dear Cerebella." Then he stepped out into the night and was gone. He was the best of the Zetas. They would not find him.

Decca crawled to his mother with trepidation, and nuzzled her snout with a soft whimper. Her quickly darkening eyes met his, and she reached out with her tongue to give him one last loving lick goodbye. Then she used the last of her strength to wrap a protective foreleg around her pup and draw him close. Decca snuggled deep into her fur and squeezed his eyes shut.

They found him like that, amid the blood and bodies.

And so the pup became the best. Decca became the strongest, fastest, fiercest student his mentors had ever seen. Soon, he could out match all but the most seasoned veterans in single combat, and then only because they had seen more battles than he. He fought without mercy, gave no quarter, even in training. The mentors made sure they were the only ones who sparred with him so that he wouldn't hurt one of his fellows. In battle, he was the best of his peers.

When they began to teach him some of the more delicate aspects of the job, Decca learned better self control. He learned to hide, to stalk, to be patient. They taught him how to negotiate, to lie, to haggle, to mingle and disappear in a crowd. They taught him how to plan, and scheme, and calculate.

No trace of his father was ever found, but many who had known their old leader suspected he would not stay away. They were right.

At three years old, Decca was a teenager, already as large and as strong as his elders. He moved on to the next phase of his training and was assigned to an Operational Detachment to be trained in real field work. Here, he met a she wolf who was every bit his equal. She was driven for her own reasons, and skilled enough to keep up with him, his only peer who had ever done so. Her name was Sasha. They first trained together under the tutelage of a Joint Recon Detachment between the Epsilon and Sigma clans, with orders to scout the Washington state border. Three veterans and one trainee from each clan ran as a joint RD to try and get as much information as possible about the situation in the western states.

They had no authority south of the border and were forbidden to intervene in anything or even be seen or discovered. Technically, they were not even supposed to cross the border, but this was merely a political hedge, a rule expected to be broken.

The two trainees soon found that they worked perfectly together. As an undercover pair, they could play off each other and lie their way out of anything. Soon they were finishing each other's sentences even when they ran in the open. When fighting as a team, they worked together like twins, and were more than a match for their mentors.

The group cut deep into western territory, all the way to Oregon. They infiltrated a number of packs, working in rotating pairs that posed as wanderers or loners and simply listened for a week or two before moving on. Their cover story varied depending on which two were undercover at the time, while the rest waited in the shadows, leaving no trace, visible or scented. The undercover pair might be father and daughter, father and son, brother and sister, or even mates. Decca and Sasha looked old enough to be a young couple. Soon they were.

The squad worked so well together that SOCOM chose to leave them intact. They quickly became the most daring and successful RD squad in Zeta operations. They specialized in short term infiltration and direct action campaigns like taking out dangerous bears. Dacca and his new friend, Sasha, only grew closer.

Upon reaching five years old, the two trainees graduated to full Zeta rank with top marks. Now of age, they chose to marry and soon left for their customary six month trip into the wilderness together as soon-to-be mates. This period was the happiest either of them had ever been.

On the day before they were to head home and make their relationship final, Decca ventured out in search of food. He was hunting for a particular herb that Sasha liked. As he searched, a heavy rain began to fall. Decca ignored the rain, even as it soaked his fur. Mother Nature would not spoil his search or his good mood. He returned happily to the den with a large bundle of the leafy plants, but stopped cold when he scented blood.

Dropping his mouthful of plants, Decca rushed forward, finding their den and the grass around the entrance covered in blood. Sasha's blood. There was another scent too, one he knew from old memories that flooded him with fear. But there were no bodies. A trail of blood and scent led into the forest. Decca took off after Sasha, hoping, praying, that he would find her.

The trail led toward a nearby river. When he was almost there, Decca heard a cry for help and surged forward, sprinting toward the sound of Sasha's voice. He reached the edge of river and froze. The sudden rain had produced a flash flood that widened the river to fully three times its normal girth. Far out in the middle, a dead tree had fetched against a sandbar. Clinging to one of its braches was Sasha. Decca could see her drenched, bedraggled form hanging desperately from the slippery wood as she tried to keep her head above water. He couldn't tell from his vantage point how badly hurt she was.

"I'm coming, Sasha!" He took off again, heading about thirty yards upriver before leaping into current. He swam straight towards the middle of the river as the massive flow of water pushed him on a diagonal course until he reached the sandbar.

Decca sprinted down the length of the little island until he reached the dead tree. Far out at the end of it, Sasha clung desperately to a branch with her teeth and claws, but even as he watched, she was slipping. "Sasha!" Decca leapt up onto the trunk, but had to stop as he almost tumbled off the slick bark. Rain continued to pour down. Digging his claws in, he moved quickly down the tree towards her.

Without warning, the tree shifted in the current. Decca lost his footing and slipped, all four paws sliding outward so that he landed painfully on his belly and ribs. The branch Sasha clung to broke, allowing the river to drag her several feet further downstream until she caught another branch with her front paws. Jaws now free, Sasha cried out for help. "Decca!"

Decca scrambled to his feet again and hurried to reach her. The trunk narrowed as he went, making it harder and harder to stay upright. He was barely two yards away. "Hang on! I'm almost there!"

Then the tree jerked again and Sasha lost her grip. "Sasha! Sasha!" Decca cried as she was pulled into the river. He dove, trying to grab hold of her fur, her paw, _anything_, but the river dragged her under.

He splashed into the turbid water, and for a moment, everything was silent. A cloud of bubbles surged past him from the splash. Even when these cleared, the water was so full of mud and debris that he couldn't see more than a foot or two in any direction. Decca swam for the surface, breaking back into the noise of the storm as rain poured down and thunder crashed overhead.

"Sasha!" he cried, spinning desperately around in the water to find some sign of her as the river pulled him downstream. "Sasha!"

At a bend in the river, Decca swam to the edge and ran along the bank, scanning the surface for any sign of her. "No, NO! Sasha!" he bellowed in rage and frustration.

Come morning, Decca was still running alongside the river, searching for any sign of her. He ran for two full days, never stopping for food or rest, until he finally collapsed from exhaustion and lack of sleep. He lay defeated in the mud of the river bank. Soft sobs racked his body until he drifted into merciful unconsciousness.

When he woke on the third morning, Decca picked himself up from the mud, stiff, red eyed, lost, and turned back the way he had come. The trip back took twice as long. He moved back upriver, still scanning the banks hopefully for any sign or scent of Sasha, but found nothing.

When he finally made it back to their den, Decca searched the entrance and surrounding forest for a trail, but the rain had washed away all sign and scent of the attacker, including the blood. Even then, there should have been some trace, scent rubbed off on trailing braches or a paw print in the fresh mud, or even a bent blade of grass to betray his passing, but the attacker had been careful to move without leaving even the slightest disturbance.

At last Decca dared to go inside the den. Inside, sheltered from the rain, the scene was just as he had left it. Now-dried blood, Sasha's blood, caked the earth floor of the dimly lit den. He could smell his own scent, hers, and one other. _Father. _But there was one difference. Adorning the back wall of the den was a single bloody paw print that hadn't been there when he first found the scene. Blood roared in his ears as he backed out of the den and ran.

He ran the whole two week journey back to Epsilon territory, stopping this time to hunt and sleep just enough to keep moving. Old fear, and anger, drove him onward. Yet another tragedy waited.

The main camp of the Epsilon clan was hidden deep in the peaks of the Rocky Mountains, difficult to reach and nearly impossible to find if one didn't already know where to look. No trails led to it. At any one time, around half the clan would be present. The rest might be undercover, or on patrol or assignment. Mothers with young pups, as well as the old and infirm lived there. When Decca reached the camp, he found a massacre. Strewn throughout the camp, both in their dens and in the open, lay the bodies of his clan mates. Every one of them had been violently killed and left where they had fallen. None had been spared. Elders and pups lay dead alongside the warriors. The scene was almost two weeks old, and the bodies were starting to decay. Decca searched the entire camp for survivors, but found no one.

The corpses were mangled, torn apart in ways wolves would never do. The wounds were long, straight, and deep, as if inflicted by creatures with razor-like claws. A few were cut almost beyond recognition, covered in shallow wounds as if the enemy had been toying with his prey before killing it. The entire scene smelled of cats. The scent was old and stale, scattered by the wind, but unmistakable. A massive group of mountain cats had attacked and destroyed the Epsilon camp.

He stood amid the ruin in confusion, despair, anger, fear, and a roiling cocktail of other emotions. It made no sense. First Sasha, now this. Cats? All mountain cats hated the Zetas, but they would never attack so openly. They would never attack as a group…cats would _never _cooperate… they were loners… it was the only reason the Zetas had ever been able to control them.

Again, Decca ran, too much in shock to process so much death. He followed contingency and headed for SOCOM headquarters, a small camp hidden near the north shore of Lake Winnipeg, almost three weeks journey east.

When he arrived at SOCOM, and told his superiors about the camp, they responded immediately. Envoys were dispatched to the main camps of the other four clans to ensure that nothing similar had happened. There were around forty wolves on duty at Headquarters. They were wolves from all five clans, including a number of Epsilons, who were shocked and infuriated by the news. Many had family in the camp, and all had friends. From these forty, two six-member recon teams were chosen, each lead by two Epsilons, and sent to scout Epsilon territory for survivors and information. If they found the force of cats, or indeed any cats, they were to remain hidden and observe.

The patrols verified Decca's report of large group of cats, and the destruction of the camp. Then they proceeded to search the nearby mountains. They found two hunting patrols, a total of twenty more wolves, all slaughtered the same as the others. Several days later, two miles from the camp, they found a two month old pup who had managed to flee, and had taken shelter in a hollow tree. The pup had already died of exposure before the team arrived. They found one hundred sixty two dead, all told.

The central peaks had always been cat territory, holding the densest population and making it impossible for wolves to travel safely. The cats often ventured out of this region and into pack territory to hunt, but this was mostly ignored. They seldom caused trouble, and didn't hunt caribou, so the cats generally weren't a threat. If they started hunting wolves, or getting too close to a pack's home camp, the Zetas would move in and deal with them. Cats were proud creatures, so they almost never left peacefully, let alone surrendered. The Zetas usually had to kill them.

The scout patrols found that judging by the scent markers, the cats had expanded their range by almost fifty miles in every direction in the Epsilon clan's absence. Most of the packs lived at the lower elevations and in the outer peaks of the Rockies. The Zetas had always been a buffer. Now the teams found trails from dozens of cats hunting freely all the way to the mountain foothills.

When the teams returned and made their report, the Elder Council had already been called and assembled. While the teams were gone, SOCOM had tried to establish contact with all the remaining Epsilon operators. Although SOCOM kept tabs on all ongoing missions and recon patrols through a chain of couriers and informants, only the elder council knew the actual identities of every deep cover Zeta hiding in the packs, so their input was necessary in order to contact them. Even the Clan leaders didn't know where all their warriors were at one time. This attempt to make contact had failed miserably. Every on-assignment Epsilon patrol was found dead, even those in other territories. Deep cover sleeper agents who had been reliable sources of information for years tuned up drowned or poisoned, or simply dead in the forest with their throats torn open. Little effort had been made to hide the murders. In only a few of these deaths were the mountain cats involved. Out of a clan of three hundred and twelve, counting pups and elders, fourteen survivors were found, and five were still missing, not including Sasha, who wasn't an Epsilon. Though her clan searched for her, Sasha's body was never recovered. Nearly all the surviving Epsilons had been on duty with SOCOM during the attack. One recon team had been scouting northern Washington, and returned to the massacre much like Decca had. There were twenty-eight additional casualties from the other four clans, mostly found near the bodies of murdered Epsilons and presumably killed along with them.

Given the nature of the other murders, and Decca's report of his father's involvement in Sasha's presumed death, the conclusion was unanimous. Somewhere in the Zeta ranks, there were wolves, many of them, who could not be trusted. It seemed likely that Decca's father had managed to find contacts within the Zeta cadre willing to help him, and even convinced the mountain cats to band together and destroy the Epsilon clan, who had long been the cats' most hated enemy. His ends besides revenge, and indeed whether he had any, were unknown. All four remaining clans launched intensive internal investigations, but found little. Decca wanted to hunt down his father, but there were no leads. He had disappeared just as completely as last time.

In the midst of all this, SOCOM scrambled to put together a coalition force of some eighty wolves from the other clans to drive back the cats. Without the Epsilon clan in place to defend them, the Rocky Mountain packs were already suffering from frequent encounters with cats and other large creatures. Meeting no resistance, bears had begun moving into the region as well. The coalition force set off to clear the cats and others out of the region, but met heavy resistance, as the cats were loath to give up their new territory. They showed no signs of working in groups, as they had in destroying the camp, but each cat was still a formidable opponent.

A wolf has only his jaws to us as weapons. He may use his paws to strike and trip, and his claws may even cause injury, but never enough to land a killing blow. Cats on the other hand, are walking weapons. Their teeth are sharper and longer than a wolf's. Every paw has five long, lethal claws, and cats will make use of all four paws in battle. They are lithe, flexible, and more balanced and dexterous than any dog. And they are _fast._ To make matters worse, cats are stealthy, and not above resorting to ambush to achieve a few quick kills. They can climb trees with ease. In order to fight one cat, at least three Zetas would have to work flawlessly together. And that was a fair fight, one that either side could win. Injuries and deaths were common. The Zetas were the best, but even they feared cats.

The region erupted into a silent shadow conflict as the Zetas tried to fight a brutal gorilla war while still concealing their very existence from the packs. The Zetas lost dozens of wolves in the following months. As the fight dragged on, SOCOM increased the size of the coalition force from eighty to two hundred. Duty in the "Rocky Mountain Warzone" became a rotating responsibility that even the bravest of the Zetas dreaded. With so much effort being poured into the fight, and every undercover Epsilon agent dead, small situations within the packs formerly watched over by the Epsilons began to escalate. The other clans did their best to take over for the Epsilons, but they were stretched too thin, and planting long term agents, the best way to resolve such issues, took time.

Decca and the remaining Epsilons lead the fighting groups since they knew their own territory best. With so few Epsilons remaining, only one went with each team. Most of them eventually had to take time out of the fight. They all insisted on helping for repeated tours, since it was their home territory, and still their responsibility, but they began to wear down. They became haggard, grizzled veterans, respected by every Zeta, but they were dying. They took time off when they had too, since the others soon learned the land well enough to take over and lead the new teams, but they always rejoined the fight, taking on the toughest opponents and fighting without fear, driven by loss and vengeance. Eventually, only Decca remained.

Here, in this new fire, the young Zeta showed his true metal. Unable to pursue his father, Decca threw himself into battle with terrifying bloodlust. His rage fueled him, burned him from the inside, and made him into a dark and formidable creature. His comrades stayed out of his way and were careful not to cross him. Over the course of the next year and a half, Decca never left the Warzone. He was already a combat prodigy, the pride of his now dead mentors. With so much practice, he became like a machine. Soon, he was the only Zeta who dared patrol alone, doing so in spite of orders to the contrary. The cats learned to fear the Scourge of the Rockies, The Last Epsilon.

Bears also roamed the region, and Decca made them his specialty. During his time with the JRD, Decca, Sasha, and the others had brought down a small, rabid black bear. Decca had kept a claw as a trophy of the kill. Now, he often took them down alone, just for the challenge. While cats were fast, bears were almost the complete opposite. They were juggernauts, bulky, powerful, and protected by thick fur that made it difficult for a wolf to inflict injury. And they were satisfyingly _big. _Taking down a bear solo was not an unheard-of feat, but two particular fights truly solidified his legend.

When there were sightings of yet another full grown male grizzly, Decca pounced on the challenge. Only three Zetas in history had ever been able to take down an adult Grizzly alone. One was their founder. The second had been Decca's father. Decca joined their ranks, keeping one claw as a trophy.

Several months later, an old beast, one the elders only told stories of seeing, came down from the peaks. This bear, the infamous Kodiak bear, posed a serious problem. The acting commander in the Warzone called a meeting of his senior officers to hash out a plan. As the last surviving Epsilon, Decca was part of this. When he didn't show, they all knew where he'd gone. Decca was found the following morning by a patrol sent to verify the Kodiak bear's location. He was unconscious, barely alive from blood loss, and mangled beyond anything the wolves of the patrol had seen any wolf endure and live. Decca held in his jaws an eight inch bear claw, a trophy from his kill. His blood trail led back to a massive bear, lying dead on its side in a pool of blood that could have passed for a small pond. The forest all around lay in shambles. Bushes were flattened, the ground was torn open in great trenches from the bear's paws, and the splintered remains of several small trees filled the clearing. The bear's eyes had been cut, and its muzzle was bloodied, but the beast's fur seemed to have saved it from all but one other injury. To kill it, Decca had blinded the bear, and then continued to pester the creature until it was enraged enough to rear up. Then, he had darted in to sever the vein in the bear's left armpit. The bear had bled to death.

Decca was hurriedly carried to nearby Jasper Park, just inside Sigma territory. Here he was tended to by a pack healer. Decca lived in spite of his injuries, horrific as they were. His recovery would be long and painful, but the Scourge of the Rockies would not die.

The leader of the pack was Tony, a Zeta who had been undercover in the Eastern Jasper Pack for years. In an old conflict, he had found himself quite accidentally leading the Eastern pack. This was not how the Zetas usually chose to operate, but since he was in place, SOCOM left him. While undercover together, he and his mate, a Zeta named Lunair, had had a son, Garth. Lunair had died giving birth.

Tony was part of the Sigma clan, having joined the clan of his mate. He'd been born an Epsilon, Decca's uncle, Haldric's brother. There were many like Tony, about two dozen, born Epsilons who now owed allegiance to a new clan. For unknown reasons, these half-clan Epsilons had not been part of the massacre. They felt the loss of their family members and friends in their home clan, but couldn't abandon their new families and responsibilities for revenge like the others. Most were occupied with undercover missions or had orders to remain away from the fighting. When they took their turns in the Warzone, they lent their knowledge of Epsilon territory to the others, but generally didn't pursue the same kind of heroics as the other survivors. However many had been lost, they still had living loved ones to think of.

When Garth was born, Tony's mission was still incomplete. Normally, one of the two parents would leave with the child, usually by faking their deaths, and raise the child until the other parent was free to join them. With his mother dead, Garth would have been raised by an adoptive mother and had little or no contact with his father. Unwilling to be away from his son, Tony chose the second option.

Garth would be raised as a pack wolf, unaware of his heritage. Tony was old enough to retire, and besides, an old back injury from a fight in his youth had begun to trouble him. He would retire here, and raise his son properly, carrying out his mission with relative ease as pack leader at the same time. Pack life could hardly be described as peaceful, but the Zetas never stopped fighting. Combat and death were a way of life that most took to the grave. No Zeta grew old by accident. Any who lived long enough to retire lived in the main villages and were revered and respected. Most of the time, they helped teach various skills to the new trainees, according to their talents. As a pack wolf, his son would most likely live longer. He was in line to lead a pack. If Tony's mission was successful, there would be peace during his son's rein. Garth would live without the constant violence that defined the Zeta way of life. He could be a pup. There would be time enough to train him later. And so they lived.

Tony's mission had begun as a simple operation to stabilize a situation between the two packs of Jasper Park. With both packs hunting the same caribou herds and skirmishing over territory, the caribou population couldn't keep up. Declining caribou had caused tension over food, tension that threatened to break out into war. If these two packs went to war, the whole surrounding countryside would suffer as the two tried to destroy each other by any means possible. They were so evenly matched that any conflict would be a bloodbath. This kind of violence would affect all the surrounding packs and wildlife. Tony and Lunair had joined the eastern pack by posing as traveling loners and, over the course of several years, worked their way into pack politics. After they had proved themselves in several crisis situations in the pack, they were accepted into the ranks of the pack alphas, no small honor for an outsider.

Several months after Garth's birth, and Lunair's death, a freak skirmish almost sparked the war they all feared. The eastern pack leader, Gaston, was leading a hunting trip when his group ran into a patrol of western wolves near the border, led by Candu, one of the western pack's top betas and a notorious trash talker. The eastern leader had been accompanied by his second in command, a veteran alpha named Rhent, and two hot headed young betas, Claw, and Scar. The two betas had allowed themselves to be taunted into attacking, even when their leader ordered them to stay put. Gaston was even older than Tony; in the ensuing skirmish, his heart gave out. The sudden death of the eastern leader ended the fight immediately.

The easterners carried their leader's body home, and the western wolves reported to their own leader, Winston. In the eastern camp, the whole pack was crying for blood, but most were disciplined enough not to act until a new leader had been chosen. Gaston had no heir, so a council of the senior alphas met to choose his successor. To everyone's surprise, they broke custom in choosing Tony, an outsider, as their new leader. He had shown his loyalty, they said, and had become one of the most trusted leaders within the pack. He was the best wolf for the job.

While all this was taking place, a group of four young betas snuck away and attacked another western patrol, this one led by Winston's second in command, Hutch. The youths made the mistake of attacking a patrol of mostly senior western alphas, chosen by Winston in case of just such an occurrence. The westerners quickly beat down the youths, knocking them unconscious and dragging them back to the western camp. Luckily, Winston was level headed enough not to retaliate. He simply held the four delinquents captive while he waited to hear from the eastern pack.

As his first move as leader, Tony called an immediate conference between the two pack leaders. Winston, his mate Eve, Hutch, Tony, and Rhent met at the river that divided the territories. The crisis over food was not likely to be resolved quickly. They would have to cooperate to prevent war. They discussed several ideas, but it was Winston who put forward the idea of joining the two packs through a political marriage. Winston had a young daughter who would be the right age to marry Tony's son, Garth. No one liked the idea, but after another hour of debate, they all agreed it was the best option. There would be no way to permanently resolve this territorial conflict without war unless this plan worked.

Over the next few years, things improved, but never quite settled. Tony and Winston did their best to cooperate and keep their patrols apart. At the start of the Rocky Mountain conflict though, the eastern caribou started thinning out faster than ever before. The effects of the Warzone were being felt as far away as Jasper Park and beyond, though the packs were unaware of the real cause. The west fared slightly better, since their territory included a valley where many of the caribou took refuge. Soon, Tony's pack was calling for war. They hadn't been informed of the plan to unite the packs, and saw no other way to ensure their own pack's survival.

Around this time, Decca's comrades arrived on eastern territory carrying their bleeding comrade. It was then that Tony chose to reveal his identity to Winston. Winston was old enough to have dealt with Zetas before, but knowing that one was leading his pack's biggest rival unsettled him. Tony explained the situation in the Rockies and finally let Winston see the whole picture. Winston didn't like it. Then, Tony asked for a favor.

To the Zetas, Decca was already ranked among their greatest legends, even at such a young age. More than that though, he was Tony's nephew. He'd known Decca as a pup and been a good friend of his mother, Cerebella. But Decca was in trouble. He had a broken foreleg, several shattered ribs, a heavy concussion, a massive gash in his back from the bear's claws, numerous other smaller cuts and wounds, and any number of internal injuries, not to mention all the blood he'd lost. Eve was the only nearby healer skilled enough to help him. Her healing skills were as renowned as her combat prowess. She might be the only one able to save Decca's life.

Grudgingly, Eve agreed to help, mainly as a favor to Tony, who she knew had been key in holding back a war even this long. Besides, Eve, the Valkyrie of Jasper, could respect any warrior both brave enough to take on a giant bear alone and skilled enough to win.

She accompanied Tony back to eastern territory, along with Hutch, who followed merely as an assistant, since no one dared call him "protection." The eastern pack wolves questioned why first a full patrol of outsiders had arrived and left them with an invalid, then their leader brought two high ranking enemy alphas into their camp. They were agitated already, and now their leader was preoccupied with the fate of this outsider? Tony managed to calm them and smooth the situation over, but the sooner Eve left, the better.

She spent a full week tending to the young Zeta before he finally regained consciousness. When he did, Eve had to pin him down despite his broken ribs to prevent him trying to stand. He seemed to think he was still fighting. Eventually, she hit him over the head to knock him out again, deciding that risking brain damage was better than guaranteeing death by blood loss if he struggled too much. She chose not to inform Tony that Decca woken up.

Decca woke again the following day, calmer this time. He was conscious, but not coherent. Eve managed to get him eat and drink, then knocked him out again with a cocktail of various herbs. She repeated this process every time he woke for the duration of another week, until he woke on the fourteenth day and was coherent enough to heed Eve when she told him to lie still. Slowly, he got his bearings and asked the obvious first questions, "Where am I?" and "What happened?" Eve told him where he was, then sent Hutch to find Tony.

Eve stayed for two more days before she and Hutch returned to western territory. In that time, she assessed the real nature of Decca's injuries. Now that he was conscious, she could have him describe his injuries and acknowledge where things hurt. He would have been walking around, given his own way, but Eve forbade it. With the condition of his ribs and leg, the risk of further internal bleeding would be too great. Eve made sure to impress upon him the importance of _staying put_. He was not to even stand for at least another two weeks, and preferably not move at all, though Eve knew this would be impossible. After that, he would remain in the care of the eastern pack's healer until he was fit to move freely. Eve felt it necessary to stress the fact that Decca would not be rejoining the fight anytime soon.

As Decca healed, he had time to think. Tony personally brought him food and the eastern leader's cave had its own pool of water. Most of the pack nearly forgot that Decca was even there. Decca lay for days, unmoving lest he reinjure himself. Somehow, this last fight had killed the fire that had driven him this long. He could fight wolves; he could fight mountain cats; he could bring down a legendary giant bear, the single greatest foe he was ever likely to encounter, but even that wasn't enough. Decca was the best, but it wasn't enough to save anyone he cared about. He was the best, but still everything around him fell and burned.

So for days, then weeks, Decca lay in the cave, hurting, healing, thinking.

His outer wounds healed first. The smaller cuts slowly vanished, leaving thin scars that were mostly hidden by his fur. The gaping slash in his back slowly knitted itself back together underneath the paste of herbs and cobwebs Eve had used to bind the wound. Next to heal were his ribs, the pain of each breath slowly fading over the course of many days. As his concussion healed, Decca's head finally stopped hurting, and he could pick his head up without the world going into a violent barrel roll. None of his internal organs seemed damaged beyond repair, though he still coughed up blood from time to time. His chest and belly hurt, but this too began to fade.

Last to mend was his right foreleg, broken just below the elbow. While Decca lay unconscious, Eve had been able to set the bone by carefully laying his leg out between several rocks to keep it in place and covering the arrangement in mud until it formed a hardened mound that held the limb steady like a cast, albeit one that fastened Decca painfully to the ground. Eve left instructions for him to stay in the cast for a full week and a half after she left. Even when he was finally free of the infernal contraption, he was forbidden to walk around, lest he jar the bone again.

After three days out of the cast, Decca could no longer stay still and began sullenly pacing inside the cave, stepping gingerly on his hurt leg at first, then walking more confidently as it healed. He stayed inside because he knew that showing himself would only cause Tony more trouble. Slowly, the sharp pain of his many injuries faded to the dull ache that accompanies an injury that has mended, but not completely healed. It permeated his body and sank into his bones, but even that began to fade.

Which left his mind.

Decca barely cared about the pain of his injuries. Finally spent, he sank into a brooding silence. He no longer had any desire to fight. Everyone was dead already. What could fighting do now? His father was a ghost, untouchable. For a time, combat had been enough to occupy his grieving , burning soul, but now he didn't know what to do. His loss still stung, bitter as ever.

Eventually, Tony got him to start talking, and Decca learned about the situation in Jasper. Decca knew most of how the packs operated, but some of the details here were new and important.

Western pack territory extended high into the mountains. They made their camp in a great stone depression carved naturally out of the mountain and perforated with many small caves. Nearly every unmated wolf, mated pair, or family had its own cave, including the leader's family, who held a cave at the top of the slope, looking down on the rest of the clearing.

The eastern camp was different. Their territory lay in the foothills of the mountains in an open area at the base of a high stone outcropping. Erosion had dug out a wide, low cave under this miniature mountain.

Betas, who made up the largest portion of the pack, slept here. It was warm enough, and each had his or her own shallow nest, lined with the fur of prey, or moss, or pine needles. Mated pairs usually shared a nest. Newborn pups stayed with their mothers until they were weaned, but after this point the raising of the youngins was more of a "village affair." The pups roamed in a loud, playful, rough, and tumbling "puppy pack" that scampered under paw all through the camp and terrorized the grownups. They would return each night and sleep in a cuddly pile with their respective mothers until adolescence when they began basic pack training. This training was handled by several of the elders and lasted until the pups reached four years old.

At this point, they were segregated into "beta" rank wolves and "omegas."

The latter group, any young wolves too small, weak, inattentive, or just peaceful to be proper hunters and warriors, were weeded out and sent to join the omegas, who would take him or her in and teach them the art of peaceful peacekeeping. The omegas slept apart from the rest of the pack, rather than compete for space with the betas, in which case they would only be pushed towards the dampest, coldest corners of the cave, which was crowded to begin with. So the omegas made their own arrangements. A few were social loners, but most stayed in a cozy den the omegas had dug out from under a massive oak tree years ago and lined with the same bedding as the beta nests. The omegas never fought or hunted, except in dire emergencies, and then not well.

The remaining wolves went through beta training. They would join in hunts and patrols with the rest of the pack and be mentored by the senior members in the art of peace through superior force. They trained as hunters and warriors, taught to put the pack first in everything. At five years old, they graduated training and became full betas.

The very best of those who emerged from beta training were selected for alpha school. A single senior alpha of the pack would take the trainee out into the wilderness for a specialized ordeal of rigorous training that lasted all of Fall and Winter. Here, they learned to be the best fighters and hunters in the pack, in addition to learning the finer arts of war and caribou behavior. More importantly though, they were taught to be role models and leaders. They learned how to keep a pack safe in winter, manage patrols, lead groups in battle, and never quit, no matter the cost. Every wolf who made it past this point and earned alpha rank was a force to be reckoned with. Each alpha had his or her own den near the edge of the camp. The important part of all this for Garth, the plan to unite the packs, and Tony's own ambition that his son should succeed him, was that only alphas could be pack leaders.

Both alpha and omega pups ran with the other pups their age and weren't bound to follow in their parents' pawprints. Alpha pups could end up as omegas, or motivated omega youngsters could make it all the way to alpha rank.

There was one additional stipulation that caused trouble from time to time. Alphas were forbidden to take mates from among the betas or omegas. As leaders, the alphas would have to order their packmates into battle and lead them without letting personal feelings get in the way. Matrimonial attachment to a subordinate would be an unacceptable distraction. There were precedents where this law had been broken, but such incidents were frowned upon. The elders often told stories of scandal and forbidden romance. Such stories were usually dramatic, sappy, and often tragic, illustrating the reason for the law.

The only other cave in the camp was the leaders den, a small, drafty cave in the top of the outcropping where the leader could address his pack with ease from a narrow ledge just outside the entrance. It had its own pool of water that stayed cool and fresh as long as the rainfall was adequate. Tony added that it was really just a leaky ceiling. That, and the mouth of the cave faced the wind most nights, making it cold and uncomfortable. Decca hadn't even noticed, since he'd often made do without a cave, sometimes even preferring to sleep under the sky where he couldn't be cornered in a hole with only one exit.

Decca remembered that his uncle had a son, Garth, about Decca's age. When he asked about it, Tony explained that Garth was about to graduate beta training. A mother in the pack with her own litter of young pups had taken Garth in when Lunair died and cared for him like one of her own until he was weaned, at which point the pup took a nest of his own in the adolescents' corner of the beta den. Before Decca had arrived in need of medical attention, Tony had been the sole occupant of the leader's den since Lunair's death. In the coming Fall, Tony would carry out Garth's alpha training himself, as was custom for a pack leader and his son, leaving the pack under the command of his deputy and senior alpha, Rhent. Tony was looking forward to the time with his son.

After another day of thinking, Decca came to a decision. All his old friends were dead. He still wouldn't be fit to return to the fight for several months. Decca had lost weight while he recovered, and now he was thin, gaunt, eaten away by more than just his injuries. Besides, the drive to kill that had sustained him for so many months was gone now. The Warzone was slowly improving, but they would likely never win back all of Epsilon territory. In his condition, Decca would be of little help to them.

But this park, and it packs, them he could help. Tony had his pack well enough under control. They were getting tense, but pride would keep them in check for the time being. Admitting that they couldn't survive on their own territory would be humiliating. If the situation got any worse, they would have to fight or die, but that time hadn't come yet.

The western wolves were nervous. They knew things were getting harder on eastern territory, and they felt war growing closer every day. Many within the pack thought it would be better to strike first, and deal with the eastern pack immediately, while they had surprise on their side. Winston Knew this would be foolish, but many, including several of his alphas, disagreed.

In this situation, a well placed mole in the lower ranks of the pack could make all the difference. That spy could change opinions, make aggression look like foolishness, calm tensions. An omega would be perfect for the job. They were already tasked with peacekeeping, so the efforts of the mole would be completely in character. The mole would only have to stave off total war long enough for the leaders plan to unite the packs to work.

Decca was trained for such missions, as were all Zetas, but he had always hated them, despised having to wear a mask and handle things patiently instead of just fighting everything that stood in his way. Now though, Decca liked the idea of loosing himself in a new identity, becoming a different wolf, leaving behind all that he carried from his Zeta life. _Forgetting._

Decca would stay in Jasper and help Tony by going into the western pack as an omega to trying and settle things on that end. He would work with Winston and Tony to try and save these two packs from destruction.

While there, Decca would be able to keep an eye on the second puzzle piece in the plan to unite the packs, Winston's daughter, Kate. Kate and Garth would each begin Alpha training in about three months time. Decca and the deputies would have to prevent war until they returned.

Decca informed Tony, then slipped away the following evening. With Winston's help, Decca changed his fur using gray river silt, and found a way to ruffle his fur so that it would both make him resemble a scruffy omega, and hide his scars, particularly the one on his back. Gaunt and thin after his injuries, he looked the part of an omega. In the morning, Decca showed himself to one of the western patrols, led by Hutch, who knew to expect him. Decca introduced himself as Humphrey, the traveling omega. The others in the group immediately questioned how an omega could possibly survive alone, with no hunting or fighting skills, but Hutch quieted them and led "Humphrey" back to the camp to speak with Winston. The whole way, Decca berated himself for choosing such an implausible cover story. When they arrived, Winston came out to meet the newcomer, and agreed to let him stay. Soon, Humphrey was part of the pack, accepted as if he'd always been there.

At first, Decca often had trouble keeping Humphrey in character. While Zetas trained to fight, run, hunt, and kill from the time the pups could walk, pack alphas had to earn their way into alpha school. Wolves in the packs came of age at around five years, by which point Zetas were already fit, muscular, and fully trained. At the same age, pack wolves had received only beta level training in hunting and fighting, less for the omegas, while Zeta youngsters were already hardened veteran warriors. Killers. Decca had to be careful not to forget that Humphrey was an omega, and didn't have any of a Zeta's skills. He was clumsy, awkward, and never took much of anything seriously. Humphrey was peaceful, not a fighter at all. At times, it took all of Decca's willpower and concentration not to break up an argument by simply bashing the instigators over the head. But he got the hang of it. After About two months, the act wasn't one. His old life was buried beneath this new one, his mission only an ingrained background objective that he carried out without serious thought or effort.

Humphrey was easily the cleverest of the western omegas, but he never quite got the hang of joke telling. They taught him about the many ways they could intercede to settle disputes, and Humphrey taught them several new games, like one his mentors had used to improve his coordination as a pup, which involved batting berries or stones back and forth through the air without letting them touch the ground. "berry toss" became one of their favorite pastimes whenever they couldn't find a good tree trunk to hollow out for log sledding. Soon, Humphrey led the omegas. He perfected the carefree attitude of his cover and began to forget that it wasn't him. He was even happy.

In order ensure the safety of the mission, Humphrey befriended Kate and was able to stay close to her nearly all the time until she went away to alpha school. What he hadn't expected, especially given his history, was that he'd fall for her. Hard. Humphrey and Kate were soon good friends. Only after Kate left for alpha school months later did Humphrey, for that was his name now and no other, realize just how attached he had become. Even after just a few months together, he grew lonely without her companionship.

All the while, Decca worked secretly with Winston, and later with Hutch when the former left with Kate to begin her alpha training that Fall, to try and prevent the coming storm by any means possible, but as time dragged on and tensions rose, the marriage plan was still the only viable option. Humphrey continued with his job as an omega, helping to keep the packs from tearing each other apart before Kate was ready to take over.

When Kate returned the following Spring, the plan was in place, ready to proceed. It was critical now that the marriage work out as planned. Tensions had risen sharply when the leaders left, and war was now imminent. The union of the packs could still come in time to save them all, but it would be a near thing. The caribou in the east were almost gone and the east was finally crying for war. When Winston called one last meeting, Tony scolded him for his sloth in informing Kate of her responsibility; she still didn't know. Winston dreaded telling his daughter. He still hated the plan. Of, she had been watching, and Tony knew it. He was a Zeta after all, and an old one at that. Not much got past him.

Tony had confidence in the plan. It was simple, if not desirable. But he had seen even the best laid plans implode in his long career. The eastern pack had become his home, his family. If it came to war, Tony would fight to make sure his pack came out on top. He made sure the Winston knew it.

So the plan was finalized. Kate and Garth would meet at the Howl. The rest of both packs would find out that night. The Howl would be a tense affair, with both packs ready for war, expecting to have to kill one and other in the following days, but they would be peaceful for one night. The monthly full moon truce was a tradition so old it was almost sacred. Nobody was sure how they would react to learning that their enemies would soon be their packmates.

The night of the Howl, Humphrey didn't know how to feel. He fought with himself to let things play out as they must, but eventually couldn't stand the sight of Garth any longer and had to step in. _What are you doing?_ He had berated himself. _This is what you've worked to accomplish!_ When Kate had brushed disdainfully past him, it had hurt worse than anything he'd felt in a long time.

Later, when Kate had fled Garth's horrendous howling, he'd felt roiling mix of jealous satisfaction and desperate worry. He was so preoccupied that the human game warden was able to sneak up on him. No human should ever have been able to surprise a Zeta. After Kate had been hit, he could have escaped, but he'd heard stories of this sort of thing. If the hunter got them both, they would most likely be kept together. If he escaped, he would have to track her down, and there was no time left for that.

On the long trip back to jasper, he'd again had trouble concealing his true abilities. When Kate had simply leapt from the high cliff with a neat double front flip, Decca had wanted to show her up with some superfluous gymnastics of his own, but couldn't. He'd actually had to think for a moment about how an omega would tackle such an obstacle, eventually coming to the conclusion that Humphrey would probably just fall. The problem with trying to _look_ like one is falling, is that in most cases one really does fall, usually coming off worse than if they had fallen by mistake.

He'd almost given himself away entirely when the sudden acceleration of the van in Sawtooth Park had startled him enough to leap for the window before he missed it, without pausing to consider that an omega never should have been able to make such a jump, let alone into a car accelerating away so quickly. Luckily, Kate hadn't noticed.

Then they lost the van, which was entirely Humphrey's fault. These kind of slips were beginning to worry him. Decca was one of the most highly trained wolves in Canada, but he let a _cupcake_ distract him from his mission, almost botching it.

The rain had worried him. He hated complaining because it was his fault they were out in it, but this much rain might wash the dust from his fur and give him away. Then Kate went off alone and ended up stuck on a cliff face over a river. Once again, he had to wonder what on earth an omega would do. He wanted to just knock them both into the river and fish her out if necessary, or leap onto the slope next to her and drag her up, since he knew how to climb it, but either option would be too obvious. Then he spotted the vine, and decided it was improvised enough to pass for omega work. As he swung Kate back onto the cliff she had leapt from, he let go as well, executed a perfect backflip, landed neatly on the muddy slope several yards below the top and slid expertly down to the river bank. Kate missed all of this of course. She was too busy hurtling through the air and landing in a heap on the solid ground above. He lingered in the shadows for a moment when she came down looking for him. He had to stifle amused laughter as he watched her shocked gasp over his "lost tail." Eventually, he showed himself, and again suggested they get out of the rain. Standing down here, Decca noted, there was also a significant chance of being caught in a mudslide.

When they crossed the mountain top, he should have been on edge. This was out of pack territory. Decca should have taken over, but being alone with Kate, he couldn't bring himself to worry. Even when they found the bear cub, Humphrey's playfulness still shone through. He killed bears when they were a threat, but he had nothing against this cub playing safely in its own territory. The little guy was actually quite a bit of fun. He eventually regretted this of course. After more than a year with only the cushioned life of an omega, he had softened. A _bear_ managed to sneak up on him. Then two more bears appeared. Decca could have dealt with one bear. He could even have held off three of them long enough for Kate to get away, but Humphrey was woefully out of practice, and besides, it would blow his cover. He eventually decided to try getting out of it with a joke. Not a good plan. He had never gotten the hang of jokes. The first bear swatted him out of the way while he was distracted with trying to make a better one. Then Kate proved herself more capable than he'd realized when she flew into action against all three bears at once to protect Humphrey.

At this point, Decca finally took over. The pair backed toward the cliff face, seemingly defeated, but Decca had a plan already. This kind of cliff would be long and gradual, perfect for an old Epsilon trademark trick, sledding. That there happened to be a log to use was convenient, but unnecessary. Sledding would work with or without a sled. The hard part was getting Kate safely down with him. And of course, the bear had followed them. Once Decca had expertly guided them down the mountain and onto the train, they were on their way home at last.

On the train ride back, just before they reached jasper, he had started to tell her how he felt. It had been Decca's sense of duty that had made him hesitate, not Humphrey's awkwardness. That, and old memories. His old feelings for Sasha, and how he had lost her, how he seemed to lose everyone he ever got close to, held him back. Then they were home.

The day before of the wedding, Humphrey said his goodbyes, telling Kate he would go back to his old ways as Humphrey the Lone Wolf. It was a good enough story. It would get him smoothly out of the valley now that his mission was over, and once he removed the dust, no one here would ever recognize him again. With this story, he couldn't help thinking, he would be able to come back to visit from time to time. _No, stop it. what good would that do? She'll be happily married and you'll be in the way. _

He stayed long enough to watch the wedding from the top of the valley wall. Decca still hadn't removed the dust that coated his fur. there would be time for that later. Just as the ceremony was about to be finished, there was a faint rumble through the valley. Kate pulled away sharply, staring toward the end of the pass as a stampede thundered toward the crowd of wolves.

"Stampede!" someone shouted.

Garth immediately leapt to protect Lilly, Kate's sister, guiding her toward one side of the valley. He stayed with her, despite the fact that being an omega, she was barely fast enough to make it to safety.

Decca was already racing down the mountainside. In the confusion, he saw Tony freeze up, favoring his injured back. Winston ran to help him, striking Tony's spine with a paw to knock the disc in his spine back into place. They ran for the side, but were too late. The stampede drove them back to the middle. Decca saw Kate hurtling back towards them, using the Epsilon log sledding trick to reach the two leaders in time. Decca lost sight of her in the cloud of dust that covered the valley as the herd passed.

**[start quotation]**

He raced down the mountain jumping, springing, diving and somersaulting over wolves that were in his way. He came upon the image of Kate lying, unmoving, on the ground.

"No, no, no! Kate! Why, why did this happen?" he asked no one in particular.

"She did it trying to save us." Winston said

"No, not that why did the caribou stampede? They don't just do that for any reason." Humphrey wondered

"Where are you going, you can't be serious? You'll be killed if-"

"Enough Tony." Winston said.

"Like hell! I'll be damned if I'm going to let my nephew go off on his own at a time like this!"

"He can take care of himself!" Winston yelled back at Tony

"Nephew?" Kate asked wearily as she tried and failed to get up

"What do you mean nephew, Humphrey is a western wolf."

"No he isn't and his name's not Humphrey its De-" Winston started

"SILENCE!" bellowed Tony catching the attention of every wolf except for Humphrey. This time it was Eve's turn to be startled as she and the rest of the wolves stared wide-eyed at Winston

"You were forbidden to ever utter that name without his permission! We all were! I'm going after him!"

"We'll go after him!" shaky said

"We will?" Mooch asked, earning him an elbow to the side. "Oof! I mean we will, we will!"

"That's better!"

"Fine, but hurry up you two." Tony said.

They then proceeded to dash of in the direction the caribou had come from.

It was a little over two hours of non-stop sprinting before they finally caught sight of him.

"Damn! How does he run this fast for so long!" Shaky said

"I- don't- know!" Mooch answered

They stopped running when they noticed him, just standing there, over a large brown form.

"Hey Humphrey, Tony and Winston want you back at the valley a.s.a.p. " Mooch said.

"Humphrey? Humphrey, are you listening?" Shaky asked.

"Go." Humphrey said "Go! Get outa here, now!"

"What? No we were told to come get you!"

"Grrr, what was the point of choosing me as leader of the omegas if you aren't even going to listen to me?" Humphrey yelled.

"It's not that it's just that we have orders from higher up! "Shaky yelled back

At this Humphrey lost it. He ran at them and slashed Shaky across the face with his claw leaving a long gash from his left eye to the right side of his nose.

"What's wrong with you man?" Mooch asked

Humphrey just stood there growling.

'_Oh man that is a bad wound he's losing blood fast! I need to get him back to the valley soon!'_ Mooch thought.

They both ran off, with Mooch helping support Shaky so as to not make the wound worse and to prevent unnecessary blood loss.

"What happened to you two?" Winston and Tony asked in unison.

"It's Humphrey! He went berserk and attacked Shaky!" Mooch exclaimed

"I'll be back." Tony growled

"Be careful." Winston said.

"Yeah." _'What the hell has gotten into him?'_ Tony thought

By the time Tony found Humphrey the sun had already started to set. He was sitting beside a large brown form about fifty feet ahead of him. Upon closer inspection he realized what it was...a bear.

"It's him isn't it?" Tony asked. "He's back."

"Know anyone else who would be able to take down a fully grown grizzly?" Humphrey asked.

"You mean besides you?" was the reply.

"Let me rephrase that; do you know anyone who would go out of their way to take on a full grown grizzly just for the thrill of the challenge?" He asked.

"Unfortunately, no."

"Do you think I should tell them?" Humphrey asked.

"That's completely up to you, but remember, the longer you hide it the more they'll hate you when the truth slips out." Tony said.

"I know. I guess I will tell them then. Oh, and uncle? Don't call me Humphrey from now on. My name is Decca"

_'And so it begins,'_ they both thought at the same exact time

**[end quotation] **

Decca would leave for SOCOM in two days time. If his father was back, Decca would hunt him to the ends of the earth this time. But, as usual, there was no trace, nothing to track. Leaving now would serve no purpose. He had other things to finish here first. He still had to say goodbye. Or maybe "hello,"…

As the day came to a close, several pieces of gossip kept the packs talking long into the night. First, Garth and Kate were no longer the ones getting married. In the aftermath of the stampede, Garth had gone to his father, desperately looking for a solution. This arranged marriage had put everyone involved in horrible positions. In the time Kate and Humphrey spent traveling back to Jasper, Garth had fallen head over heels for Lilly. Ironically, He'd spent more time with her than he had with Kate. The ceremony had been a world ending ordeal for all of them. It was no secret to anyone who knew her that Kate hated the whole business, though she kept her reasons to herself, as if she needed any. With some convincing, Tony was finally won over to the idea of changing the plan, dramatic as that was.

Politically, all that was needed to unify the packs was a marriage involving one heir from each pack. The pair would then take over as leaders of the new combined pack. Garth had to be the one from the east, but nothing said the western member couldn't be Lilly instead. To lead a pack, one had to be an Alpha. Garth would assume total control of the combined packs with Lilly as his mate. This would break pack law by allowing an alpha and an omega to mate, but given his own background, Tony happily gave his ascent. As leader, he could override the rule, so long as Winston agreed to do the same. It might even work out better, Tony speculated. Since Lilly would not be carrying out alpha duties, there would be little room for favoritism among the alphas. Since the omegas almost never went into battle, Garth would probably never have to worry about her, solving the principle problem with an alpha-nonalpha union.

All this left Kate free again, to which she apparently had no objections, despite being ousted from the position of soon-to-be leader and pack savior. What would she do, they wondered? Both sisters became the topic of much conversation.

The other thing, the one that most wolves in both packs mentioned and dismissed, was the stampede. A small rumor suggested that the stampede had been started intentionally, that it was too unusual to be an accident. Some speculated that it might even have been an attempt to kill the new leaders and keep the packs apart.

Decca knew better. While killing one or both of the pair would doubtless have been a desirable outcome in whatever game his father was playing, that wasn't the point. The stampede was too unreliable. If Haldric wanted someone dead, Decca knew, he would do it in a way that left no room. No, it was a message. A challenge.

**[start quotation]**

It was early morning, so early that the sun hadn't even begun to crest the horizon. The wolves and other creatures of the forest-valley were all still asleep, except for Decca that was. He was up, still, just trying to figure out the best way to tell everyone that he had been lying to them for their entire lives.

_'This __isn't __going to be easy,'_ he thought_. 'How do you tell your best friends that you're not actually their best friend? Oh, hi everyone, by the way I've been lying to you for years and you really know nothing about me, only my disguise. But it's okay cuz' I'm gonna tell you why. Seriously, this __sucks.' _He inhaled deeply and let it out in a long drawn-out sigh_. __'Might as well get it over with.'_ He slowly made his way back to his den from where he was in Echo Canyon but stopped when he heard howling in the distance. _'I almost forgot. Tomorrow is the moon light howl,'_ he mused as he gazed upon the moon, the scenery, and finally Howling Peak, the place where the event was held every month. He sat there staring at the moon, just wondering what it would be like to actually go to one. He had never gone before simply because he had no one to go with. Not that he'd ever seriously tried, given his mixed up feelings. _'I wonder what it would be like to howl with Kate' _(A/N: in my story he has never participated in a howl or howled with Kate on the way back. don't like it? Well tough sh!t.)

_Kate's POV:_ The sun had finally risen and the wolves started to wake. Another peaceful morning, but not like any other. Today there was an emergency meeting of the pack leaders, herself, Garth and therefore Lilly, and strangely enough...Humphrey. _'Why is he supposed to show up? He's an Omega. I mean sure, so is Lilly, technically, but she's Garth's mate.'_ Kate thought. Maybe when this meeting was over she would tell him how she felt. She never got a chance to in the week since the day she was supposed to marry Garth because he had been away with the eastern pack, which was at least a day's trip away, even if you were to run the whole length of the trail that connected the two territories. Sure the packs had united, but there were only so many places to sleep so they decided to simply stay where they were. He was finally heading home at last and arrived late the night before. She couldn't wait to finally see him again.

Humphrey awoke sometime after dawn to a light, cool breeze drifting over him. He was still half asleep when he remembered he had to attend the meeting. _'And tell everybody the truth'_ he thought. He looked up at the sky and could tell it was just a little before noon_. __'I still have a bit before I go maybe I'll get this dust out of my coat.' _He started towards the river, slowly at first, until he looked at the sun again. _'Crap!' _he thought_. 'It's later than I thought!'_ He raced towards the river and immediately jumped right in. _'At least the water isn't that cold.'_ Soon he was clean as ever, finally getting to remove this stupid dust that had been there since he became Humphrey. _'Ugh, finally! It's been forever since I had a clean coat. I wonder what they'll think of me when the see what my fur actually looks like.'_ As he got out of the river he shook his fur to get any excess water out, leaving his coat a shiny black on top and storm cloud gray underneath, then proceeded up the mountain to where the alpha caves were. On his way he was stopped by a Beta.

"What do you think you're doing up here, _o-_ what rank are you? I've never seen a wolf with black fur before..." the Beta asked.

"That doesn't matter, I'm here because I have things to discuss with Winston" Decca (Humphrey) replied.

"_You, _what would Winston want with you. I bet you're lower than an Omega, aren't you!" he yelled.

"That's enough, John." a voice from behind him said. "What this wolf says is true, I do have things to discuss with him. It's good to finally see you again, _Decca,_" Winston explained

"You too, Winston" he replied.

"Let's get going. You have a lot to explain, especially to Kate."

"Don't remind me," he said causing Winston to laugh. Winston knew of his feelings, as did Tony. Winston had obseverved Deccas not so subtle "crush" on his daughter and had often taken the opportunity to prod and heckle him for it, all in good fun. He sympathized with Deccas plight.

As they neared the entrance to the large cave that served as the pack leaders den, he could hear Winston whisper to him. "Good luck, kid!"

_'Well, here goes nothing,'_ Humphrey thought as he made his way to the others.

Kate and the others had been assembled and waiting for almost half an hour already. Her dad had gone to go get Humphrey while they waited_.__'That's strange what could be so important that my dad would need to go get him for. I mean he's an __Omega, __if there's something important to say he should say it before Humphrey gets here.'_ she thought. They waited another ten minutes or so before anyone could be seen near the entrance, but what they saw shocked all of them. There standing alongside her father was a pitch black wolf who looked just like Humphrey .

Humphrey walked into the den and slowly made his way over to where the others were gathered. He could tell they were all surprised, every one of them, from the shock-and-awe expressions on each of their faces, except for Tony that was. He had on just a regular old smile, which quickly turned into a smug smirk when Humphrey sat down next to him.

"Hello, everyone," he said.

A small "Hi," was all they could manage at the time. Garth was the first one to get a hold of himself.

"Is that really you, Humphrey?" he asked.

"Yes and no," was all he got as a reply.

_'Wow! He looks amazing!'_ Kate and Lilly both thought.

_'I never knew an Omega could look so hot! No he's not an Omega he's an __Omega!' _Kate thought with a blush.

"So what did you call us here for, dad?" Lilly asked.

"Actually it wasn't me, it was Humphrey."

"_Him? _He's just an Omega, how does he have the right to call an Alpha's council meeting?" Garth asked.

"Now Garth, that's no way to talk to your cousin. Especially when he outranks you," Tony spoke up.

"Outranks me? He is an _Omega, o-m-e-g-a, omega_! How does _he_ outrank _me_?" Garth exclaimed. "I'm an alpha!"

"Simple, I'm not an _Omega_ I'm a _Zeta," _Humphrey replied

"What the hell is a Zeta?" Kate asked "I thought there were only three ranks. Omega, Beta and Alpha."

"There are only three." Humphrey said.

"That's it! I have had enough of you and your silent 'I'm only gonna tell you the minimum' crap! I have never known you to be this somber and reclusive and- and- and _not Humphrey-like_! I'm sick of it! Quit pretending!" Kate screamed.

Humphrey just looked at Winston as if asking a silent question. "Go ahead, Decca. Tell them your story. All of it," he said.

Decca nodded and turned back to the others. "If you want answers then you must listen to me. No interrupting, no questions, no nothing. I'll explain as much as I can to the best of my knowledge. Agreed?"

"We already know everything there is to know about you Humphrey," Kate said

"No, you don't. There's a lot you don't know about me, Kate"

"What are you talking about? I've known you for years"

"No, you just know who I've been pretending to be."

"Fine," they all said.

Decca inhaled and let it out in a long sigh. "Where to begin?"

**[end quotation]**

Decca proceeded to summarize his life, everything that wasn't classified, giving few details, speaking with little emotion.

**[start quotation]**

"So that's it. That's how you were able to pull all those moves that I could never even dream of just to get to Kate." Garth realized.

"Yep, sure is!" Decca exclaimed, returning to his old self for just a moment.

"So sad...," was all Lily managed to say without breaking down right there.

"So why are you telling us this now? What's so important about this?" Kate asked.

"Well that's the bad news" Tony said.

"Then what do you call all that he just said?" Lilly asked, astonished.

"A tragic story," Winston explained.

"So what's the bad news?" Garth asked

"My brother, Decca's father, is back. He's the one who caused the stampede a week ago." The room fell silent.

"We'll start preparations tomorrow. For now, everyone is to relax and enjoy the moonlight howl tonight."

With that everyone started to leave. As Kate got up to go Decca tried talking to her but got not a single response.

"Kate, look, I know you must be upset, but-"

"Of course I'm upset, you've been lying to me the whole time I've known you! How _else _do you expect me to act, you asshole!" With that she stormed off, leaving Decca there hanging his head.

"So now what are we gonna do?" Tony asked.

"Me? I've just completed my first Undercover Long Op! 'Successfully live your life as an Omega!' I don't know about you but I'm going to go celebrate at the moonlight howl!" he replied.

"Still an Omega at heart I see."

"Besides, who knows. Kate might show up." Decca added.

"You never give up do you?" was Tony's sly comment.

"Nope!" was his simple retort.

**[end quotation]**

At the howl, Decca had restored his grey colored fur. He would spend this last night here as Humphrey. Those he had told of his identity would eventually find out about the Zetas anyway, but to the rest of the pack, he must always be Humphrey. Regrettably, that included his omega friends. The others had all been told to continue calling him Humphrey.

Tony had had to explain to Garth who he really was. Garth had taken the news much better than Kate. He even seemed proud of his father, though being outranked by Decca, a wolf who should have been his inferior in every way, still irked him.

**[start quotation]**

Decca snapped out of his reverie as he ventured the final turn to howling peak. He had decided to meet up with the other Omegas and was meeting them at the base of the mountain. Coming up to them, he noticed Lilly was there as well.

"Hey Lilly, what are you doing here? I thought you'd be with Garth." He asked.

"He's not here yet. Something about preparing for, uhh well, you know." She glanced at the other omegas nervously, unsure if they were allowed to know. "Personally, I think he's still nervous about his howling skills."

"Well I would be too if I sounded like him." Shakey said, earning a glare from Lilly.

"Come on guys, enough fighting. It's time to enjoy the night, speaking of which… Lilly, is Kate going to show up tonight?" Decca asked.

"I highly doubt it; she's still kind of… well, murderously pissed towards you..."

"Well we can't always get what we want I guess."

They started up towards the peak simply chatting along the way. Shakey ended up finally getting a date with one of the betas.

"Wish me luck!" he said as he was dragged away from the others.

"You'll need it!" mooch replied.

˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·˙

It was halfway through the night and everybody had a partner for the howl. Except Decca. No matter what he did he couldn't find someone to howl with him. That is, until he saw Kate walk in next to Candu. He walked up to Kate, about to ask if she would howl with him, but Candu interrupted.

"First howl's mine." He growled

"Alright there's no reason to get angry." Decca replied, "I'll just wait until you two have fini—"

"And every howl after that." Kate suddenly interrupted.

"What?" Decca asked.

"And. Every. Howl. After. That. Do I have to spell it out for you? I'm not going to howl with you now or ever!" She snapped.

He started. "Kate, I-"

"No!" she interrupted. "I've had enough of you, just stay away from me! Come on Candu, let's go!" and with that she walked off, Candu following close behind, casting a skeptical look back at Humphrey.

*sigh* "C'ya later, Kate." He said, sitting there hunched over. He ended up sitting near the edge of the gathering, looking sullenly at all the merriment.

"I'll howl with you Decca." A voice from behind said.

"No thanks. I think I'll just turn in for the night," he replied, not even realizing that whoever it was knew his real name.

"What's this? I don't see you in more than two years and when I go and offer to howl with you just up and ignore me? That not very nice, now is it?" The voice remarked.

"Huh?" was his oh, so intelligent comeback. Slowly turning around to see who he was talking to, his mouth dropped open at the site.

"What's wrong Decca? Flea got your tail?" she said. There, standing only a few feet away, was none other than-

**[end quotation]**

* * *

_**|˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·˙|**_

_**|˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·˙|**_

_**|˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·˙|**_


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1 – Alive

"Sasha?" Decca breathed, not daring to believe the sight. "You—you're alive? But you—died—I _watched_ you _die!_"

"Sorry to disappoint you _darling,_" she said playfully. She didn't move or approach though, as if they were both waiting to see what would happen next.

"How…_how?"_he stammered, sounding more like Humphrey than the elite Zeta warrior he had been the last time he saw her.

"I washed up downriver somewhere in Washington," she answered. "The humans found me, and took me to some kind of prison where they… there were… cages everywhere. They kept me there for over two years. At least, that's what I found out later. I couldn't escape; the humans were too careful, and I couldn't get to any contacts to send for help. I couldn't just start advertising my identity in the Western states, so I wasn't able to ask around and figure out what was going on, or try to get in touch with anyone.

Frank finally found me when he was flying through and heard a rumor about a wolf the humans fished out of the Columbia River. He got hold of a Kap team, and they agreed to come get me out. They— "

Decca, finally daring to believe that she could really be alive, rushed forward, cutting her of with an embrace as tears welled up behind his eyes.

"I hate to break up the reunion," said another voice from the shadows, deep and smooth, "but we _do_ have business to attend to." Out of the darkness stepped a jet black wolf, with no other color patches. Even his eyes were black. Long bangs much like Lilly's shadowed his eyes so they wouldn't reflect the moon. He was about Candu's size and walked silently, fluidly, placing each paw with uncanny precision.

Behind him followed a second wolf, a tall, powerful male with blue eyes and gray and black fur like Decca's except for the grey fur on his ears and chin that betrayed his age. He walked less gracefully, but still moved without making a sound.

"Nox? Roland?! You- you're alive!" Decca said, still stammering with new shock.

"Hey there, killer. Long time since the RD. Ha' ya' bin?" the second wolf, Roland, said.

"You'd think a 'clever omega' could come up with a more creative greeting," Nox commented.

"But how are you all alive? Where were you? Why weren't you _here!"_ Decca growled, growing angry now. His voice rose as he spoke, making Roland glance around as if he didn't like being in the open.

"Sasha's been trying to explain that," Nox said patiently, "but you never were the best listener. Frank got the Kappas to go and break her out, and then came to find Roland and me. That was almost three weeks ago. We were in Michigan at the time. We met the Kappas and Sasha near the Canadian border and took Sasha north by train, since she was still in pretty weak shape from being held captive so long. The Kappa team stayed to deal with the Westerners who caught their scent and decided to make an issue out of it. They will meet us when they've finished."

"It wasn' a stealthy thing," Roland continued, taking over for Nox. "Near as we can tell, yer ol' man heard about all the action, and found out that Sasha was alive. From that little mess yesterday, looks like he's finally makin' his move."

Now Nox spoke again. "We came north to find Tony and try to find you, but as it turned out, you weren't particularly difficult to spot. Your little _dash_in the valley was quite spectacular."

"But how are you _alive?_ What on earth have you been doing?" Decca said, getting exasperated.

"That will have to wait," Nox said. "We've been in the open too long as it is. Find the leaders. We need to speak with Tony. He's the one most likely to know what his brother is up to. We'll meet in Winston's den. It's the closest. Frank will meet us there."

[line break]

It took a full half hour to assemble everyone in the western leaders den. After Roland, Nox, and Sasha melted back into the shadows, Decca hurried to find Tony. He ran into Winston first, and told him of the meeting. He found Garth next. He had arrived late. Garth promised to locate Tony, and Decca ran to meet the others at the cave. Kate saw her father leaving and insisted on coming. Eve, of course was present, and Garth, Lilly, and Tony all arrived together. Right as Tony reached the entrance to the cave, his back gave out again without waning.

"Damn you, crash…" the old wolf muttered through clenched teeth to no one in particular as Garth helped him fix his back and continue on into the cave, where he immediately lay down and stayed panting.

When they were all assembled, Decca looked around for the others. As if on cue, the three Zetas stepped into view. Tony shot to his feet again, pain forgotten.

"Sasha!" he cried, rushing awkwardly forward to embrace his Clanmate. "We all thought you were dead!"

"It's quite a story," she replied, laughing. "How's your son?"

"Right here!" Tony exclaimed happily, stepping back. "This is Garth! He'll be taking over as leader soon! And you two!" he burst out, beaming at Roland and Nox.

Kate was the next to speak up. She took an aggressive step forward. "Humphrey… _Decca,_" she amended, "Who are these wolves?"

"Easy, darlin'," Roland answered. "We're no threat to ye. Nox and I are Epsilons like Decca. We worked together back when Decca was on Recon. Nox? Git over here and join us. And where's Frank? He shoulda' bin back with the other two by now."

Nox had been standing near the mouth of the cave, staring out into the night with concern. "I don't know," he answered. Finally, he turned and came to join the group. He seemed annoyed by the number of wolves present, and kept glancing around irritably.

"And _her?_" Kate pressed, eyes still narrowed.

Decca spoke up now. "Everybody, this is Sasha," he said, beaming. "My mate. I thought she was dead all this time. Humans had her held captive in Washington."

Kate froze. "Mate?"

"Well, not officially," Sasha said with a light smile. "but we might as well be. We were only a day away."

Kate backed away, looking uneasy. Tony and Winston shared a concerned glance, but Tony had other things to worry about first.

"Sasha's situation is understandable, but you two? If you were alive all this time, why didn't you report in?" Tony asked, showing some annoyance, just as Decca had.

"We didn't trust SOCOM," Nox answered darkly. "We were split up when the takedown happened. They ambushed us. Roland, Decca, Sasha, and I are all that's left of the team. Roland and I came back just in time to find Emmet and Reddek already dead and surrounded by a group of twenty wolves painted head to toe in mud to hide their scents and identities. We found Hector and Rose dead too, about thirty yards away. We had no choice but to run. We stayed low for almost three weeks until we could piece together the whole story.

We checked on the camp to make sure, but everyone was dead. We tried to contact a few of the undercover Epsilons in the area, but we found three of them dead before we found out that they were _all_ dead.

The intelligence to carry out that kind of total synchronized hit has to come from high up. They're the only ones with that many names, so at least one of them is dirty. We decided to stay as we were and let them think we were dead. Being dead can be useful if used properly.

We kept our heads low started chasing leads. We dug up quite a lot. Decca here is the last known Epsilon survivor. Every other survivor died in the Warzone, but not all of them were combat deaths. In several cases, their own squads took them out from behind and then staged the murder to look like the cats got them. One of the higher ups is still feeding intel to Decca's father. They've got wolves in the lower Zeta ranks working for them as well.

For the last few months we've been following a lead in Michigan, trying to track down Haldric. Then we heard about Sasha and left to help get her home. Now we're here. After yesterday's fiasco, it looks like he's finally going to move into the open. We came here because you might be able to tell us what he'll do. He's your brother after all. SOCOM never interrogated you because you've been undercover all this time."

Now Tony was beginning to get angry. "Then you've been AWOL all this time? While your comrades have been dying trying to take back Epsilon territory and keep the packs in this region from falling into armageddon? I'd be disappointed in any Zeta, but _you_ Roland?"

Roland stepped forward to face him. "I don't like it either Tony, but this is even bigger. There's another war comin' if we don't figure out what he's up to, and you ought to understand just how bad things'll get if the Zetas go to war with each other. It'll make this mess in the Rockies look like a puppy play fight.

As long as we stay under the radar, they won't know to watch out for us. We can do more good like this. If we get through this alive and they wanna court martial me for everything, they're welcome to."

Tony sighed, some of his anger fading. "Well," he said at last, "tell me you at least found something?"

Nox answered. "As a matter of fact we did, though not until last month. We found someone who knew about an old deal that might help us track him down. There were only a few creatures who knew the details, so while we came to find you, we sent Frank to track down a couple of other informants who were supposed to be near this area to see if they could help us. They was supposed to meet us here."

Suddenly, the sound of frantic wing beats drawing closer pulled everyone's attention the mouth of the cave. A midsized pigeon hurtled ungracefully into the cave and landed in a heap, heaving as he tried to get his breath back enough to speak.

"Speak eh the devil himself," Roland said with a chuckle.

Nox rushed toward him with concern. "Frank, what the hell happened?"

"Duck an' d' goose!" Frank gasped. "Dey—gone—d' big black 'un—snatched em!" The bird finally got his breathing under control. When he spoke, it was with a thick New York accent. "It's Paddy and Marcel. Tony's brotha' nabbed 'em. dey're on a train headin' south. I got somebody tellin' eh Kaps t' see if dey can catch 'em, but we gotta run, boys, or dey're toast!"

The whole cave exploded into a commotion of voices. Roland swore explosively.

Kate looked at the newcomer in surprise. "Wait, Paddy and Marcel? The same guy who caused the stampede kidnapped them? Why?"

"Kate, you know them?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah, they helped us get home, or we never would have made it in time."

"Dad, what's going on?" Garth said, looking at his father with concern.

A piercing whistle split the cave. Everyone fell silent, scrambling to clamp paws over their ears. Eve stepped forward and smiled sweetly. "Now, if everyone will just speak in turn, we can continue. Anyone else will be removed from my cave. Violently." She smiled at them all again.

Roland was the next to speak. "This is bad. Those two know more than anyone else on the continent. Who knows what he might get from them. Tony, you got any idea where he would take 'em?"

Tony sank to the floor tiredly. "No," he sighed. "You lot probably know more than I do, if you've been chasing him this long. To answer your first question," he continued, "I have a very good idea what he's planning. He never valued anything but power. Whatever he's planning, it's already in place. He would never make a move if he wasn't totally prepared. I'd guess that Paddy and Marcel are two of the last pieces in his plan. He'll use any information he gets to weaken the Zetas, then he'll try to take over completely. I'd don't know exactly how he'll do it, but whatever he does, that's his final goal.

"Then our first objective is getting them back," Nox said.

Frank picked himself up off the ground and dusted off his feathers. "Dere's a train due any minute. If y' leave now, y' might catch it."

"I'm coming." The whole group turned to look at Kate.

"No can do, honey. Zeta personnel only on this." Roland said.

"If they're in trouble, I'm coming to help them. Paddy and Marcel are my friends."

"Actually," Nox said, "they're ours. Paddy and Marcel are two of our best informants. If anything moves anywhere in North America, they hear about it. Their help has been essential to the success of numerous operations. They have the names of hundreds of operators, in all the clans. Even if their capture weren't a security concern, we owe them."

Eve stepped forward to defend her daughter. She spoke with guarded politeness. "Kate is quite capable. I helped train her. And besides, if your intention is to remain undetected, it will be useful to have someone along that they aren't familiar with."

Nox started to object, but Roland cut him off. "We 'aven't got time to argue about this. She can come. Mama Bear has a point; she might be useful. But she had better keep up."

Eve growled, but Winston put a paw on her shoulder. "My daughter will be fine," he said.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tony asked. "Special Ops doesn't work like a pack, Kate. You don't know what you're getting into."

"They're my friends. I'm going to help get them back," She said glaring around, daring anyone else to question her.

Frank started for the mouth of the cave. "I'll fly ahead and tell Trigger an' the othe's. D' Kaps can meet us 'alf way." He took off in a in a flurry of feathers and disappeared.

Suddenly, Decca looked worried. "Wait, did he say Trigger? Which Kappa team? _Please_ tell me we aren't working with those lunatics in Forty Two again," he said, casting a pleading look at Roland.

Roland laughed heartily. "Sorry, killa'. The very same. They insisted on comin' t' visit the two of ya to see how you were doing, after they finished mopping up their mess in Washington. Guess it'll be like old times."

Decca groaned.

"What's so bad about these Kappa teams?" Winston asked.

Tony growled. "The Kappas are quite respectable. They're American Spec Ops, like the Zetas. Kappa Team 42, however, is a band of wanabee-military misfits who should have been court martialed and discharged or executed years ago. Somehow, they're still here, and much as I hate admitting it, they're effective. If you're looking for carnage and a mess."

"They're the best, and they specialize in the ridiculous. Their antics are _legendary,_" Nox added.

"If you have to work with Kap-42," Tony growled, still snarling, "watch yourselves. And don't turn your back on the old one."

"Well, if that's it," Roland said, "we've got a train to catch." Looking at Kate he said "Last chance to back out, missy. You in?"

Kate scowled. "I'm coming."

"Then let's move. Keep up, sweetheart. You're runnin' with the big dogs now."

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	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note:**

**I'm still fixing typos in the other chapters. Thanks to K-F-N for spotting an inconsistency in one of the quoted sections of the prologue. ["lying to them for eleven years"] This has been edited. **

* * *

**Chapter – Omega**

Every wolf can run. It's in their blood. It's part of survival. The Zetas took this simple thing to an entirely new level.

They ran fast and hard, sprinting by any normal standard. They started fast and stayed that way, never once slackening their pace, running by the light of the full moon overhead. Kate had the physical fitness of an alpha, but she still wouldn't be able to keep this pace for long. Wolves can run almost forever, but not at a full sprint. She quickly fell behind the small pack, struggling with every ounce of willpower not to fall further behind and have to suffer the humiliation of proving them all right in doubting her. Her muscles burned painfully. Her limbs got heavier with every passing minute. Each breath caught in her throat. Twenty minutes later, Kate was running on nothing but will power.

She wasn't the only one though. Humphrey, _no, Decca,_ Kate reminded herself again, hadn't gone through this kind of exertion in almost a year. Living as an omega, he hadn't done much of anything physical. From his labored breathing, he was having an even harder time than Kate, but he somehow stayed right with Nox and Roland, who led the group. The two ran at the front without a word. Sasha seemed to take great delight in Decca's discomfort. She almost literally ran circles around Decca as he struggled to breath, heckling and teasing him as she ran past, often somersaulting over obstacles, or bounding off of tree trunks just because she could. Once, Sasha even leapt in front of him and dove to the ground, rolling neatly to absorb the fall as Decca was forced to leap over her. Sasha rolled to her feat with without missing a step, laughing as Decca stumble visibly, and ran past him again, swatting him with her tail on the way by. Decca laughed at her playful bothering, occasionally throwing back a typical witty retort of his own before he went back to trying to breath.

Kate would have growled in anger if she'd had any breath to spare. She was furious that Humphrey had lied to her for so long, though she wasn't even sure why it felt like such a betrayal. But it did. Just the day before, she'd been optimistic, sure there would be a way to tell him how she felt. Then Kate had shut him out, refused even an apology, and in less than a day, Humphrey was as good as gone, replaced by Decca, who already had _her…_

They reached the open plain that marked the tracks just as the moon was starting to dip towards the horizon. At the far left of the plain, they could see the train approaching. They still had nearly three hundred yards to go before they reached the tracks. With practiced ease, the Zetas fanned out to intercept the train at different points along its course, leaving Kate with the path farthest from the approaching train, the path that would make her the last one to leap, but give her the shortest distance to run. Those closest, Nox and Roland, ran ahead to meet the train earlier on its course. Sasha stayed close behind Decca.

Kate's heart leapt into her throat as the massive locomotive bore down on them. Sure, she and Decca had flown the sled into the train with apparent ease on their way back to Jasper, but she had never actually tried to jump onto a moving train from the ground before. As the engine of the train roared past, she spotted an open car midway down the chain of boxy freight containers. As they all adjusted course to meet the open car, Kate somehow managed to feel even more terrified. She was already exhausted from the trip here. Her legs felt like dead, limp, sides of meat. They resisted her as she tried to run faster, weighing her down, refusing to obey her. She would need all her strength and coordination to make the jump, and if she missed, there would be no second chance. She had a feeling they wouldn't just hop back off and weight for the next one with her.

Roland reached the open car first, and leapt expertly aboard. Nox jumped up beside him and they both turned back to watch the others. Decca reached the car next and lunged up. His back right paw missed the edge and he teetered frantically, but Sasha followed close behind him. She jumped aboard, tackling him into train car.

Now it was Kate's turn. Her vision tunneled as she barreled toward the open door of the car with the last of her strength, hoping desperately that she would still have something left in her exhausted muscles to make the jump. As the train sped by, she readjusted, aiming in front of the open car the same way she might lead a running caribou. The train was faster than a caribou. Somehow, Kate felt yet another flash of fear as she realized she would miss the car.

Kate adjusted her approach again and frantically tried to move faster. As the front edge of the door flashed past, she jumped, seeing the faces of the others pass by as she hurtled towards them. Kate got half her body through the opening, barely high enough to clear the floor of the car, before the other side of the door slammed into her flank with all the force of the speeding train. She scrambled frantically with her front paws, eyes wide with terror as he entire back half flailed uselessly in empty space.

"HELP ME!"

Decca tried to come pull her up but, Roland beat him to it, grabbing Kate by the scruff and hauling her awkwardly the rest of the way into the freight car, where she collapsed, eyes shut tight, hugging the floor with relief as her heart threatened to batter down her ribcage to escape. Now that she had stopped running, every muscle suddenly burned even more than before, so badly she had screw her eyes shut and clench her jaw to keep from screaming aloud until the pain passed.

"That was cutting it close," Nox commented. "We almost missed the train."

The feeling of painful exhaustion was nothing new. Her father had often pushed her to this point in her alpha training, but never so brutally. This insane surge of fear and adrenaline was something she hadn't felt since the incident on their way back from Sawtooth, when she'd been caught suspended on a muddy cliff over a flood gorged river. It wasn't a pleasant feeling.

Kate opened her eyes to find everyone staring at her. Decca came to her rescue.

"Jumping onto cars and stuff must be an alpha thing. How is that so hard when I've seen you play hop-scotch on the heads of running caribou?" he said, laughing playfully.

Kate joined in, giggling nervously as she tried to laugh it off.

Roland strode over to Decca and punched his shoulder with a paw. "Quit laughin' kid. You weren't exactly graceful." Decca grunted in pain and rolled his should to try and loosen his sore muscles. Roland laughed. "Ha! Jus' like old time's, eh Newbie?"

"Yeah, old times," Decca replied. "Remind me why they were so good again?"

"_Aawww, Decca,"_ Sasha drawled playfully. "I'm hurt."

"Seriously though," Decca said as he flopped onto his side, wincing as a bump jostled the train car. "What's the plan?"

"The plan," Nox said seriously, "is to wait here until we hear from Frank, and meet the Kappas somewhere en route. Haldric is heading south, but we don't know to where. Frank will have his contacts try to determine where he gets off. Till then, we sit tight. There's still a few hours before sunrise. I'd suggest we all get some sleep."

"Hang on," Kate said. "_Frank's_ contacts? What, do _all_ the birds spy for you? And if Paddy and Marcel know you," she added, looking pointedly at Humphrey, "what was that big chase for when we met them in Sawtooth? Why didn't they just tell you where to go?"

"First, no, not all the birds spy for us, at least not directly," Nox answered. "Birds know almost everything, if you know who to ask. Most wolves never bother to notice, but birds see a lot. It pays to know a few. Hawks and falcons see all sorts of interesting things. They might tell us in exchange for leaving the door open on a chicken coup somewhere. Pigeons and gulls are terrible gossips; they'll trade information for a good story any time, but you have to be careful which ones you trust. Crows will do almost anything for shiny objects, as long as you don't let the wily bastards trick you.

Sometimes, you just make a friend. That's how I found Frank. Personally though, I think some of them are bored. We pay Paddy and Marcel in golf balls, but that's peanuts compared with the kind of help they've given us, even to Marcel. I think they love helping us because it's an adventure, and infinitely more interesting than golf or annual migration.

As for why Marcel ran, it was to protect his cover, and Decca's. If he just started talking to Decca like they were old friends, you'd have known something was up. Frank was already headed that way when the two of you got captured. He saw you from the air. So, when he found Paddy and Marcel, he sent them to wait for you. When he met up with us and found out we needed their help, Frank had to go track them down all over again."

"The whole runninng thing was an act," Decca piped up. "Well, sort of. We've got this running bet. Every time Marcel gets away, Paddy adds a strike on the back of this card he's been carrying for years, just for this bet. If I catch him, I get the point instead. Paddy keeps it so Marcel won't cheat. First one to three dozen wins, and the looser has to take an open ended unpleasant dare from the other. Right now, the score's tied at thirty two and thirty two."

"Alright," Roland interrupted. "Everybody get some sleep. Nox, you take first watch. I'll take over at dawn and everyone else can sleep in. Unless we hear from Frank, we aren't going anywhere."

Nox nodded and positioned himself in front of one of the box car's open doors, sitting like a sphinx as he watched the countryside roll past.

Roland walked to one corner of the empty car and circled a few times before lowering himself to the metal floor, curled up tight with his back to the corner.

Decca and Sasha chose the corner opposite Roland and lay down side by side.

Kate was the last to move, still lying where she had fallen after her disgraceful performance getting onto the train. Decca looked over like he was about to say something, then stopped and frowned. He opened his mouth again, looked over at Sasha, and closed it. Kate could practically see the gears finally catch in his incredibly male head as he realized that having both Kate and Sasha on this trip might be a problem.

Kate rolled her eyes disgustedly and rose, wincing as she stretched her bruised ribs and already stiff muscles. _Oh quit it, _she berated herself. _You never even told him how you felt and now you're mad that when you brutally rejected him, he took you at your word. He might not even feel the same way. You never even bothered to feel anything until he saved you from a cliff and you almost got trapped in an arranged marriage._ She walked to the same side of the car as Roland and lay down on the unforgiving metal floor of the other corner, still wincing as her aching body complained. _Ha! Of Course he feels the same way. He's been chasing you since he met you!_ Kate knew how sore muscles worked. She hated sore muscles. They always hurt worse the next day. _Well, get over it. Turns out he's already got a mate, and that's not going to change. _Kate sighed and closed her eyes.

The metal floor quickly began to leach the heat from her body. She curled up tighter against the chill, as exhaustion started getting the better of her. _Tomorrow morning is going to suck._

˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·

**Author's Note:**

** Bluah! Love triangle and romantic drama! *shudders* Epic action next, and some fight scenes soon, I promise! **

** Leave a review! Reviews are awesome! **

**-Sarge**


	4. Chapter 4

"Look alive, sunshines!"

Roland's cheerful wakeup call dragged Kate out of blissful slumber. The first thing she felt was cold. In the few hours of sleep she'd gotten on the train, the metal of the box car had chilled her to the bone. She tried to reach up and paw the sleep from her eyes, but stopped when her stiff muscles screamed in protest. She'd been right. They hurt _much _worse in the morning. Kate painfully uncurled herself and stretched her paws out in front and behind to start loosening her muscles. She twisted her head around to the left as far as she could, stretching out the locked muscles in the right side of her neck, then repeated the process on the left. Kate continued through several more stretches as she worked her way to her feet. When she finally stood, she had worked out enough of the stiffness to stand and walk comfortably. It had only been a month or so since she finished alpha training, so her muscles weren't nearly as bad as the first morning of alpha school with her father. Decca on the other hand, hadn't done any real exercise in months…

"What a _beautiful _mornin'!" Roland strode over to Decca, who had hardly moved. No, he hadn't even woken up. Nox was already standing, and so was Sasha. "Hold on, now," Roland said, lowering his voice. "What have we here?" They all chuckled quietly at some private joke as they gathered ominously around Decca's peacefully sleeping form. The Zetas wore identical expressions of mischievous glee. Kate looked on with some trepidation. They looked like a bunch of giggling omegas about to pounce on their sleeping friend…

Which is exactly what they did. Sasha struck first. She took a step back, crouched, then leapt high into the air. She bounded gracefully off of the metal wall of the box car and came down violently, using her flank to body slam the sleeping Decca's. As she landed, his eyes snapped open and he let out a strangled cry of pain. But they weren't done. Sasha rolled out of the way as Roland hauled Decca up by the scruff and hurled him so forcefully in the opposite direction that he staggered into the side wall with another pained cry. Before Decca could get his bearings, Nox slammed into him with one shoulder, crushing him back into the wall hard enough that they both bounced off and back toward the center. In the same motion, Nox grabbed Decca by the scruff and flung him back toward Roland who leapt through the air, intent on tackling Decca. Decca finally reacted, dropping into a low crouch so that Roland sailed overhead and had to roll to his feet on the same side of the car as Nox. Decca spun to face them, but Sasha landed on his back with all four paws, flattening him brutally to the floor with his limbs splayed out around him. Somehow, he was still blinking away the last of his apparently sound slumber. "…Oooooowww,…" Decca groaned.

Sasha had Decca pinned, with both front paws planted on the base of his skull holding him in place. She leaned down and put her nose close to Decca's ear. "If I didn't know better," she scolded playfully, "I'd say you've gone soft. You haven't missed wakeup call since we were pups." She stepped away and let him up.

"Well," Decca said groggily as he got his feet under him and stood shakily, "that's one way to get the soreness out." He took a step forward and almost fell over. "Most of it—anyway—," he gasped.

"Oh, don't worry," Sasha purred.

"You're just getting' started," Roland finished.

Decca sighed.

"Alright, you ol' switchpaw, let's see what you remember," Roland said, getting down to business. "Whenever yer ready," the old wolf said with a grin as he and Decca began to circle. Decca settled into a crouch, watching Roland's every movement, looking for an opening. Without warning, he lunged, diving low at Roland's front legs.

"No, no, no," Roland sighed, fending him off easily. "How many times 'ave I gotta tell ya? If yer gonna shoot low, keep yer weight back and balanced and don't lead with yer head!" Roland leapt, tackling Decca to the ground and turning the fight into a wrestling match as they rolled across the boxcar. Nox stayed a few feet away, watching critically.

As they fought, Sasha crossed the car and sat down next to Kate. Seeing Kate's startled expression, she laughed. "Don't worry, Roland won't hurt him. Decca's just out of practice after so long undercover. He's going to be toast for this whole week until he gets back in shape."

"Decca!" Nox cried reproachfully. "What the hell are you doing? Don't reach back when you're grappling! That's first thing _pups_ learn, and damnit, that's why!" he finished as Decca found himself pinned with Roland's fangs an inch from his throat.

"Quit overthinkin' it kid, an' just fight," Roland said.

"Actually, I'm not much better," Sasha continued. "I've just back in the game for a couple of weeks longer than he has."

Kate glanced uneasily at Sasha and reluctantly sat as well. Choosing to put aside her emotions for the time being, Kate asked "Roland called him 'switchpaw.' What's that mean?"

"Decca's ambidextrous," Sash answered. "He broke his right paw as a pup and had to learn how to use the other one. By the time it healed, he could fight from the left just as well as the right. It's part of what made him so good. None of the trainers were left pawed though, so they had to get this crotchety old elder named Minerva to help teach him. She was ruthless, or so he tells me."

Decca and Roland faced off a second time, but with the same result. In less than a minute, Decca was pinned again, even though Kate could see Roland was going easy on him. Sasha began to look worried.

Roland let him up and watched with a concerned expression as Decca got to his feet, glaring angrily at his own paws as if they had betrayed him.

"You've bin under too long kid." Roland's frown deepened. "You're not that little omega anymore, you're Decca, so git that through yer head an quit pussy-footin' like you like you don't wanna scare the ladies. You're still playin' yer cover, an' that's a problem. It's why I hate these kind of long cover ops. They mess with ye." Roland looked over at Nox. "I really don't like doin' it this way, but we need him now, an' unless we get him back in his old head, he'll be learnin' it all over from scratch." He looked back at Decca. "You've been playin' that happy-hippy mask so long you forgot where to go when it's time to fight. It's all still in there, you've just got to find it again. You can let the cover go, kid, you're not hidin' anymore."

"I'm not hiding!" Decca spat angrily. "I'm not holding anything back, it's just gone."

Roland twisted his head first one way, then the other, cracking the bones in his neck loudly. "Nah, you've just been suppressin' it for so long it's not even a conscious choice anymore. You're out of practice, but it's more 'n that. Ye fergot how to get mad."

Nox chuckled darkly, appearing beside Decca. "But that can be remedied."

With no warning, Nox shot out a paw, catching Decca in the chin with a jab punch that sent him reeling. Roland followed it with a downward blow to the snout, then tripped Decca onto the floor of the car with calm pitiless ease. Nox mule kicked him in the gut with both feet and sprang away.

"Wake up, Decca," Nox crooned.

Roland lifted Humphrey up by the scruff and then shoved him towards Nox who reversed direction, lowered one shoulder, and hit Decca like a brick wall so hard it must have given him whiplash. Decca hit the floor in daze.

"Wake up, Decca," Nox crooned, in way that was disturbingly motherly.

When they had jumped him before, it was a playful, if violent, affair. Now, they were hitting for real, trying to hurt him, trying to _break _him.

Nox lifted Decca to his feet by the scruff again, and Roland hit him over the head again, knocking him back to the ground. Then Roland picked him up and Nox hit him, then picked him up again.

"Wake up, Decca,"

Roland copied Nox's mule kick, spinning around to drive both hind paws into Decca's ribs. Decca managed to stay on his feet, and staggered away, coughing and wheezing, ears back, head and tail held low.

"Humphery!" Kate cried, springing to her feet. "What are you doing! You'll kill him!" She started toward him, but Sasha put paw on her shoulder, holding her back.

"They won't hurt him. They know what they're doing. We need Decca back _now_ and this is the best way to do it. They won't hurt him. He always did learn best in the fire. They won't hurt him." She looked worried. Kate gritted her teeth and forced herself to sit and watch as the two Zetas endeavored to beat Decca senseless.

Finally, Decca started fighting back. He lashed out drunkenly at his attackers, barking angrily and getting back up on his own now, springing to his feet and trying desperately to land a blow. Nox and Roland stopped knocking him to the floor so often and instead focused on battering his ribs, head, stomach, shoulders, and hindquarters. Nox ducked under a wild swing and tripped Decca into the wall of the boxcar.

"Wake up, little Decca,"

Something changed. Like throwing a switch, a feral light flicked on behind his eyes, and Decca snarled. He sprang up and flew toward Nox, used his jaws to catch the paw aimed at his head and rolled, still gripping the paw and twisting the limb it was attached to, forcing Nox to stagger and expose his flank, or risk having his shoulder dislocated. Now it was Decca's turn to lower his shoulder and slam into his enemy, knocking him to floor and diving down with his fangs bared.

Roland tackled him from the side and latched his teeth around Decca's throat, not hard enough to pierce flesh and kill, but enough to cut off his breathing and certainly hard enough to be painful. Decca found himself pinned on his back unable to breath, thrashing for a purchase to free himself. As his lungs screamed for air, yet another gear shifted. His eyes grew wild, jaws wide in a silent bellow of rage. Decca lunged, contorting his neck until he grasped Roland's ear in his jaws, and pulled with every ounce of his strength, yanking the older wolf off balance. Decca curled his hind legs up and kicked Roland away, unleashing a thundering bark from his now liberated throat, as he sprang up in pursuit, gasping, each breath a wretched rattling cough…

And _laughed. _

Decca's whole body shook with adrenaline. His new savage grin widened. Decca had forgotten the adrenaline, the intoxicating rush of a fight. Now he'd found it.

He sprang back into the fray with new ferocity. He _was _out of practice though, and he had lost strength. Decca took the worst of the beating, but handed out enough damage of his own as well. He seemed to exalt in the violence, even as he was beaten and battered by the two older wolves.

As they fought, Nox and Roland called out advice, coaching and correcting him, but never leaving time to think, always attacking, forcing him to react instinctively.

Decca gradually lost himself in the fight, forgetting that he was not fighting kill, nor were the other two. Finally, Roland called a stop to the fight, but Decca wasn't finished. When Roland tried to back off, Decca charged, seeing only weakness, an opening. He drove forward and finally succeeded in tackling and pinning Roland.

"Decca! That's enough!" Nox shouted.

Decca bared his fangs

"_Decca!"_ Sasha's voice cut though his bloodlust, dragged him back. He blinked.

Roland grinned. "Welcome back, killa'."

Decca shook himself and stepped back, but the light of battle still shone in eyes, and he shook visibly from a mix of physical exhaustion and adrenalin.

With a groan much like Decca's earlier, Roland climbed to his feet and flexed one of his back legs, wincing as he did so.

"Having trouble old dog?" Nox said with amusement. "Need a nap?"

"Watch it youngin, or you'll find I'm a lot harder to rough up than some kid fresh off a long-op." Roland answered. "Sasha, take Decca over there and make sure he's not hurt." Then he turned his attention on Kate. "Alright, sweetheart, now it's your turn." Kate froze. "Relax, I'm not gonna beat ye up like that. I jus' need to know what ye can do before we get too deep into this mission." Kate's first instinct was to take offense at his patronizing tone, and it must have shown on her face because Roland laughed. "Or I could hit ye around too, if ye insist." He added, smiling.

Kate growled and stepped forward, settling into a balanced crouch, just like her father had taught her, as they began to circle. Kate didn't really mind that everyone was watching her, but it was a distraction. She forced it out of her mind.

Roland turned to circle in the other direction. Instead of copying him and trying to circle on her nondominant side, Kate turned sideways and tracked him as he moved, keeping him in front of her, staying light on her feet, just as she had been trained to do against a left-pawed opponent.

"I thought Decca was the 'switchpaw'," she said.

"Every Zeta learns both sides a little. Decca's just better at it. With him to train against, we all got pretty good at switchin' paws back on our old RD."

Roland made the first move, launching into a rapid succession of paw strikes, all of which Kate countered or avoided perfectly, even returning a few of her own. Then he changed tactics, trying a series of trips and takedown moves, setting up each one with fakes and paw swipes designed to force her off balance and create an opening. She recognized and avoided each one. So far, Kate had countered everything the old wolf threw at her perfectly, using what Winston had taught her in alpha school without missing a beat.

She was just starting to feel pleased with herself when Roland ran through another setup, one that she didn't catch as quickly as the others, and picked her front paws out from under her without any apparent effort. He then slammed into her with one shoulder, sending her sprawling. Kate recovered just as she had practiced, rolling and spinning to face Roland again without ever exposing her back.

"Good," Roland said as they resumed circling. "But remember to keep your eyes on me when you roll." He sprang toward Kate again, using a different set up this time, but tripping her with the same move as before. This time when Kate rolled and spun to face him, he had already moved around to attack her flank, biting at the muscles in her lower back, just to the side of her spine, but not hard enough to cause injury. "See?" he said, circling away.

This time when he struck, Roland came at her with fangs bared, aiming for her throat. She struck his muzzle aside with one paw and lunged at him in return, spinning out of his path as she did so to keep her paws free and prevent him getting underneath her and gaining leverage. He spun as well, neatly avoiding her and dancing away, chuckling as they circled again. He was _toying_ with her, and it made Kate furious.

Roland proceeded to systematically run through nearly every area of combat skills. Paw strikes, takedowns, set ups, counters, recoveries, grappling, and others, coaching and offering pointers even as they fought, just as he and Nox had with Decca, completely in control despite Kate's best efforts to beat him. He even let her score a hit or a takedown sometimes just to test another skill or demonstrate some technique.

As the two fought, Decca and Sasha sat in the corner of the train car watching, while Nox kept a lookout from one of the side doors. Decca leaned back against the wall of the car and tried not to move. Now that his adrenaline was wearing off, Decca could feel his new collection of bruises, and a few cuts and scrapes. Add these to his already sore muscles, each of which was essentially one giant bruise already after so much sudden exercise, and… it _hurt._ Naturally, he put on a tough face and tried not to wince or groan too much. Sasha laughed at him.

Decca was uncomfortably aware that compared to the Decca she had known, he was being a wimp. Before, he would have shrugged off such discomfort without a thought, or insisted on even more training to drown it out and raise his own endurance. Now though, after playing the wimp so long, he felt like one. He would get back to his old level of professionalism and expertise, he knew, but in the meantime he felt weak. Inadequate.

"I disappointed, Decca," Sasha teased. "You just got your tail _handed_ to you."

"Come on, I was just goin' easy on the old guy," Decca said with a wave of his paw. "I'll show him who's boss later."

She gave him an amused smile, turning back to Kate and Roland. "So," Sasha said, watching the fight, "Who's she?"

"Kate?" Decca was a bit surprised, even though he should have expected such a question. "She's… a friend from Jasper."

"She was quite worried about you. She thought they would kill you for sure."

"Well, to her I've always been just a weak little omega, so…" Decca trailed off.

"What were you doing in Jasper?" Sasha asked.

So, Decca proceeded to tell her the story of his time in jasper, and his mission there, how he had worked with the pack leaders, then been captured along with Kate, and finally their journey home, ending with the events that had transpired just before the team's arrival in Jasper. He gave only the events, though, leaving out his thoughts and feelings over those months he'd spent as Humphrey the omega.

Sasha looked uneasy. "She fell in love with your cover then?" She wasn't fooled by his omissions.

"Maybe," Decca sighed, averting his eyes.

"_You_ fell for _her_…"

Decca dragged one claw absently across the floor. "Yeah."

Sasha turned away, gazing out the open door of the box car. "I'm sorry," she said without turning around.

"No, it's no one's fault. You're alive, that's what's important. You're here now."

Sasha looked back at him, smiling sadly. "Yeah."

"Enough!" Roland called, ending the training bout.

Kate got to her feet, fuming.

"Good," He said, sounding pleased. "With some training, you'll do fine."

"Training?" Kate spat.

Roland frowned. "Don't git uppity with me, alpha. You've still got a lot to learn, same as we all do, so when your elders and betters try to teach you somethin' ye'd be well advised to pay attention. As for you two," he added, facing Decca and Sasha, "You're both so outta practice it's disgusting. Decca, you don't remember a darn thing. Now that you're outta that little 'omega' funk, we can train you back up an you'll actually learn something, but you're still a long way behind. Sasha! Your turn darlin'."

Sasha was just getting to her feet when Nox said from the side of the car, "We have company."

Suddenly, a white, brown, and black dog-shaped furry form hurtled into the car, hit the floor, and rolled out the other door with a yelp, but managed to hang on to the edge, scrabbling with both front paws.

A second dog leapt gracefully aboard, this one a black and white female border collie who immediately crossed the car to help her companion, completely ignoring the car's other occupants. "_Viejo_," she muttered irritably, _"Algún día, te vas a matar."__1 _She proceeded to help him scramble into the safety of the car.

Upon closer inspection, the first dog was a male foxhound, so elderly that the fur on his muzzle was almost completely gray, and the rest of his poorly kempt coat was tinged with gray as well. His pelt hung pitifully off his skeleton.

Next into the car was a medium-build German shepherd with a typical tan and black coat and pointed ears.

He was followed closely by a black and white furred Alaskan malamute with markings over his eyes and face that made him look like he was wearing a mask. "Hello Roland," the malamute said, walking up to him.

"Hey Trigga'" Roland replied, nodding his head in greeting. Roland glanced around at the other newcomers, then asked, "Where are the others?"

"We split up," Trigger said.

"Three eh the hippies managed t' get away," the foxhound said. "The oth' four stayed to finnish 'em off."

"Four?" Decca asked.

"Four." The collie spoke with a thick Spanish accent. "We lost Double on a raid in New Mexico about two months ago. A human hit him with a lucky bullet. He bled out. The human regretted it." The collie's eyes sparked murderously.

"Let's just say we won't be going back to New Mexico for awhile," Trigger said. "We left South, Dee, Smoke, and Deuce to finish cleaning up in Washington."

"Couldn't just leave those idiot hippies runnin' about spreadin' _wild _stories, now could we!" the foxhound cried, a bit too loudly.

"What's a 'hippy'?" Kate asked.

"Westerner," Nox explained.

"They will head east and catch a different train, then meet us when we get word of Haldric," the collie finished. "Frank is still working on pinning down his location. We sent Rafka with him to help."

"How is Deuce handling the loss of his brother?" Nox asked.

"Well enough. He'll be alright." Trigger said

"Hold up now, who's this lovely thing? I haven't seen you before," the old foxhound said, looking at Kate.

"Kate's comin' along to help find Paddy and Marcel. Apparently they're friends of hers. She's from Jasper," Roland explained.

"And you let her?" Trigger said skeptically.

"Jasper? Well you must know mah ol' buddy Fenton!" the old dog said excitedly. "How's 'e doin' up there?"

"Um… Fenton?" Kate said, completely at a loss in this flood of new information. "I… don't think I know anyone by that name."

"Ha! He must still go by Tony! Never did get along too well with his mother, see."

"Tony? You know Tony? The leader of the eastern pack?" Kate asked incredulously. "And his real name is Fenton?"

"That's eh one, 'ep! 'Ow's his achin' back 'oldin' up, eh? Did 'e mention me?"

"He… well… um…"

Trigger saved her. "Leave her alone, Crash. She doesn't even know who you are."

"Of course!" the excited old hound cried. "Introductions!" He stepped back and intoned dramatically, "Ah give you one partic'lar half of _U_nited States Kappa Team _Number_ Forty-Too! Ah'm Crash; that lovely lass over there is Siren, an' she could tech one a thing 'r two; the silent moody type in the corner is Ripper," he said, indicating the German shepherd who had yet to speak a word, "That face painted northerner in the corner is our _stone_ faced, _stone_ hearted leader, Trigger; that lovely lass over there is Siren, an' she could teach one a thing or two; that silent moody type in the corner is—"

"Viejo!" Siren interrupted, cutting him off midstream. "You're talking in circles again. You already introduced everyone."

Crash frowned and counted on his pads, staring over on the same foot when he reached his last toe. "Didn't either! 'At's only fahv 'n a half! Ah got at least two more to go!"

"There are only four of us here!"

"What—Where—" he spun around frantically. "Where's the rest of 'em?"

"We left them in Washington."

"Well, why in kibble an' tarnation'd we do that!?"

Siren sighed. "Shut up, _mi loco. _I'll fill you in later."

This whole exchange left Kate feeling more than slightly perplexed.

"So, tell me why you're here again?" Trigger said, addressing Kate with a frown. "How do you even have clearance to know we all exist?"

"I'm the daughter of Winston, the leader of the western Jasper pack. I'm helping get Paddy and Marcel back because they're my friends. They helped Humph-, _Decca_, and me get home in time to stop a war.

"Humphrey?" Crash blurted. "He strikes again! Nobody told me you were playin' Humphrey on that op! Here ah thought you was mister lonely britches up there _languishin'_ in the far north an' you show up with _two_ lady friends, you sly ol' play'r!"

All eyes turned to Decca, who gulped. "Um, no," he stammered.

Kate raised an eyebrow. "Humphrey strikes again?" she said icily.

"Well, ah, funny story that," Humphrey said. "When we designed Humphrey, he was supposed to be a bit of a Casanova."

"An' ye stole the king's daughter to boot! Right in character!" Crash added unhelpfully.

"What?" Kate spat. If looks could kill…

"Hey, that one was an accident!" Humphrey said defensively.

"And one hell of a story," Nox added.

"I… kinda botched an op in northern Oregon," Decca explained. "Sasha and I went in as 'Humphrey' and 'Natasha,' brother and sister, traveling loners. They were basically alphas, but with no official rank. Humphrey was designed to be… flirty? Sociable? Natasha was the responsible one. Well, our objective was information, so I got talking with this one female, and talking, and talking, getting all sorts of good info mind you, but since it was one of my first ops I… kind of over did it?"

Sasha picked up the story. "He was talking to the this female in _private_ when the _leader_ happened to walk past and over hear his _mate_ speaking very… _seductively_ to dear Humphrey, who had been leading her on a bit more forcefully than he realized up until that point."

"She was being very… explicit," Decca added.

"Anyway," Sasha continued, "there's still a price in seven counties on the head of one lone wolf by the name of Humphrey. If he ever goes back, there is probably exactly one wolf who would be _delighted_ to see him."

Roland chuckled. "It was quite a chase. I admit I was surprised y' chose Humphrey for this op. How exactly did that go?"

"Yeah, I kinda had to tone him down a bit, what with Winston looking over my shoulder and all…"

Crash couldn't resist. "Watch out fer Daddy!"

"What's our plan now?" Nox asked, changing the subject.

"The plan is to wait here until we get word from Frank or Rafka," Trigger said. "If we get much past Rathdrum before the birds get a bead on Haldric's location, we'll hop off and head south on foot to see if we can find out anything. We'll rendezvous with the rest of the team in St. Maries or Fernwood unless we get new intel. Whichever group is closer when we find him will make the hit, and the rest will catch up, or Rafka will get another Kap team to make it for us if need be. We're about nine hours out from Rathdrum, so we've got some time to kill."

Crash was the first to pipe up. "Ok, kiddies! Who wants t' sing the first road trip song?" He was met with total silence. "What, nobody's ever bin on a road trip? Nin'y nine bottles o' beer? Ramblin Man? Anybody? How 'bout 'I Spy?'"

Siren glanced at him quizzically. "You want to play 'I Spy' in an empty box car, Viejo?"

"Well 'pparently none o' yew curmudgeons has a better idea!"

A collective sigh went up from around the group. This could be a long nine hours…

"

"

_**|˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·˙|**_

**"The Wild still lingered in him and the wolf in him merely slept."**

** - Jack London, White Fang**

_**|˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·˙|**_

* * *

1 - "_Viejo_, a_lgún día, te vas a matar." / "Old one, some day, yourself you are going to kill."_

**Authors Note:**

**Hey all! ****Yeah, I just realized the first two thousand words is all Decca getting his ass handed to him. Wow.**** So, that doesn't really count as epic action, but there was fighting, and some fun back-stories. I hope you all like violence, because I like fight scenes, so I will try to write lots of them. **

**I'm messing with a Spanish speaking character, so if you see that I have said something wrong or in a way that a native speaker wouldn't, and you happen to know better, tell me, I beg of you.**

**I discovered [had pointed out to me...] that there is a button at the top of this page to change font size and LINE SPACING. Apparently some people don't like stories that are "blocky" and I have to admit it gets difficult reading stuff single spaced and all bunched up like this, so if you are one of these people, try the buttons! They help this problem! I intend to add this note to the beginning of the first chapter as well. **

**I'm still hammering out where exactly I want the plot to go, so bear with me on the speed of chapter updates while I work toward inspiration. **

**As for the pairings... I really hate mushy romantic stories anyway, so don't expect me to put much into long affectionate discourse. One or two pairings are central to the story, but the mushy stuff will be almost entirely omitted. If you don't like the pairing, I'm sorry, but it probably won't change, and the love triangle is not something I intend to let stand. That extra drama will be nixed at the first possible opportunity to make room for the real conflict.**

**Leave a review! Reviews are like cocaine, they make this an addicting passtime! [Passing time I don't always have...] Tell me what's good; tell me what you don't like, tell me if, and if so where, you got bored, confused, irritated, began plotting to teach me spelling, or did none of these so that I know not to mess with things. Specifically, Ha' 'bout dem accents? Many thanks for reading!**

**Stay Epic my friends.**

**Later! -Sarge**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note-**

**Sup, all! Chapter up! Finally! Spanish translated at the bottom.**

**I'm not sure whether or not to make the wolves able to read... for now, kindly ignore that point. I may edit it later. **

**This chapter will come back and be important, so, enjoy! **

* * *

'

**˙·****٠**•**Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ**•**٠****·˙**

'

Kate sat in corner of the boxcar watching in fascination as a rather impressive scene unfolded before her.

After hours of enduring Crash's singing, as he performed everything from warbling country ditties to a number of military marching cadences, singing both the call and the response parts of each incredibly repetitive "song" so loudly it drowned out all other conversation, the other members of the group had reached a breaking point. They finally snapped when, still trying to bring them all together in song, the old fool began a heartfelt rendition of "Kumbaya."

At this point, Decca was forcibly drafted to play with Crash as if he were a bored puppy in order to keep him occupied until they heard from the birds or reached Rathdrum. At first, they started with a simple word game, or at least, simple in concept. Kate gathered from their competitive banter that the two had passed time like this before, and had a tendency to develop such games into great complex contests. She would be proven right.

The game started with a single word, chosen at random. Crash and Decca then took turns coming up with words that had the same beginning as the ending of the previous word, each trying to come up with a word that would stump the other. There was a time limit of ten seconds on each turn, or it counted as a "stump" and scored three points for the other player. Each answer had to include at least two letters of the previous word. Using three or more letters would score the player one point, while using only one would score a point for his opponent.

These rules were explained to Kate by Roland, who came to sit next to her.

As the contest continued, the others found it impossible to completely ignore them. Instead, they all watched with growing interest as the game intensified. Decca took several rounds to warm up, but was soon firing back answers as quickly as Crash. They shortened the time limit to five seconds.

Then, declaring their sport "too boring," they added a second game, and played it simultaneously with the first. This one was a game they called "paw slap." Each put one paw out, pads down, about two paw spans from his opponent's. The point of the game was to slap the back of the other's paw. The other could evade in any way except pulling his own paw back beyond a certain point, or raising it above eye level. Neither was allowed to keep his paw in the air longer than three seconds. There were no turns. It was a two way game of reflexes. Quite often, the first to move would miss and be hit when the other countered. Each hit scored one point.

Still not satisfied, they added a third game, each using his remaining front paw to play a second game of paw slap. Any dispute was settled by a starring contest while the remaining two games went on uninterrupted, amusingly so in most cases.

The inherent problems with trying to think about three things, watch two, and trash talk all at the same time made the contest a surprisingly interesting one to watch as they kept forgetting about one game or the other or uttering entire sentences of complete nonsense due to lack of spare brain power from trying to do so many things at once. This progression had taken roughly an hour, and the game had already continued from there for another two. By now, the train was only an hour from Rathdrum. As seemed to be his lot lately, Decca was getting his tail handed to him, though in the last half hour or so he had started to make a comeback.

"A'right kiddo, 'respect' cause you got none of it!"

"…Thrice,"

"See kid? Ye can't win!" Crash taunted. "Wait…ah… Emancipate!"

Decca smiled. "My point." _Slap! "_My point again. Need a break old timer?"

_Slap!_ "No, _mah _point!" _Slap!_ "And there's another! Terminal!"

"Aligned!"

"Education!" _Slap!_

"Neither!" _Slap!_

_Slap!_

_Slap!_

"Ha! Missed me!" _Slap! _"Heretic! Not so fast that time, eh youngin? Bow to the old one!"

Hearing this, Kate remembered something that had been nagging at her since the Kappas arrived. Turning to Roland, she said "Tony tried to warn us about the Kappas. He said 'Don't turn your back on the old one.' He meant Crash, didn't he? What was he talking about?"

Roland's formerly pleasant expression soured. He didn't meet her eye. "Ugly story, that." Roland didn't answer her question right away. "Ye're a good fighter, just not very experienced. As good as any young alpha I've seen. Runnin' with us, ye'll pick up experience and skills ye can't learn from your peers. But somethin' else I shoulda asked is this: will you kill?"

Kate blinked in surprise at the question. "Yes. I'm an alpha. We train to defend our pack at all costs. If we're attacked, or have to attack first, that means killing the enemy. Of course I can kill."

"Have you ever even been in a real fight? Ever had to fight another wolf to the death?"

Kate hesitated. "No. But it's what I'm trained for. If another wolf has to die, I'll do it. An enemy is just prey. It can't be that much different than hunting. Cut the right artery and a wolf bleeds just like a caribou."

Roland nodded, still not meeting her eye. "Of course. But there's a difference out here. In a pack, the objective is clear. Survival. The choice t' kill 'r not is rarely complicated. Even a traitor, once found, is executed without doubt or remorse. He makes himself an enemy. Every other wolf is either with y', or against y', an enemy, 'r not. Whatever happens, the right choice is always the one that keeps yer packmates alive. The situation is usually pretty clear, even if it aint pretty. We don't always have that luxury."

Roland looked down at one paw, lost in thought. "Crash and Tony go way back. They worked on an op together, years ago, kinda like we're doin' now. The thing ran without a hitch, mission accomplished with flying colors. Their teams ended up working together, and acting as liaisons when our two countries needed to work together.

After a while, Crash and Tony got to be pretty good friends, right up until Crash did something stupid, and disobeyed orders to help a civilian. The details weren't important. The point was, he'd committed insubordination. Tony stuck up for his friend and took part of the blame. No small favor. Tony really stuck his neck out. It was just enough to keep Crash from being discharged completely. The officer in charge of the Kappa team put in a good word as well an' Crash was only demoted and transferred to Kap-42."

"What's so bad about Kap-42? You make it sound like… part of his punishment."

"Kap-42 is unique.

The Kappas 'r "tier one" Spec Ops. In the American military community, they're the best of the best. There are fifty teams eh twelve, one for each state. They don't get much contact with the Hawaiian team, and Alaska might as well be its own country, but they're still official.

When the West seceded, three teams no longer had a home state: 42, 33, and 31. They were reclassified as "Kappa Recon Teams," same as how our old Zeta team operated. After a few years though, the civilians in the government decided they would rather do away with the "stray teams" all together. The military cadre fought to defend them, and managed to shut the idea down. The bureaucrats decided to get uppity and started lookin' for a loop hole. They managed to block all official missions and keep the three teams idle until somebody gave in.

Eventually, all the guys in 33 an' 31 asked for transfers, and the teams just died.

42 held on longer. For a while, the bureaucrats managed to block new recruits. 42 started takin' in strays, civilian dogs they found off the streets, and trainin' 'em up as replacements. They started doin' unofficial work, helpin' with local problems off the books, mostly out of boredom. Couple of times they even brought down some big city gangs. Only problem was, they couldn't get caught. Without official orders, everything they did was illegal, especially with civilians helpin'. When they took casualties, they had to tell stories to explain it. If it was one of the civilians, they had to leave the body and pretend it was just another criminal.

By that time, the issue was more of a power struggle between the government and the military, rather than a conflict of principles. Otherwise, the military cadre would have shut down 42 themselves when they started freelancing.

'Bout three years later, a mid level Zeta workin' in SOCOM went rogue and ran across the border into America, and then to Mexico, offerin' information to the highest bidder in exchange for protection from us and the Americans. Claimed he was trying to blow the whistle on somethin'.

Countries have secrets. Always. In the wrong hands, those secrets can start wars, or reveal weaknesses. This guy claimed to have the names of American spies inside the Zeta ranks, and the names of our agents in America, along with a bunch of other intel. The higher-ups on both sides were freakin' out like headless chickens. Didn't help that tensions were already runnin' high in Zeta politics. A prominent council member had just died and there was a big to-do over his successor."

"Spies?" Kate asked. "Why would one of you high and mighty 'Zetas' betray your friends and family for the Americans?"

"There're always malcontents. Every Zeta is born into the job. Some resent it. We have spies in the American forces, they have spies in ours, as well as informants in the packs. They'd b idiots not to. Knowledge is power, after all.

This guy must have found somethin' and been scared stiff he'd be killed by one side 'r the other if he tried talk there. He didn't know who to trust.

Anyway, the politicians worked somethin' out over all our heads, probably an information trade, an' then sent one team from each government to hunt the traitor down, with the understanding that he would be captured and brought back to a location near the America-Canada border before any questioning took place. The politicians would work something out after that.

They had already nabbed the guy, and had him on a train headin' north when somewhere along the line, the American higher-ups got spooked. Their intelligence folks found somethin' they didn't like and decided this guy was even more of a threat than they realized. The Kaps got new orders through their bird.

A few miles from the America-Mexico border, the teams transporting the prisoner were supposed to switch trains in a little switching yard near the outskirts of a city. The plan was to send a second team of Kappas, an extraction team, to snatch the prisoner and run. They would ambush the teams while they were switching trains and make the grab, then the first Kappa team would try to mislead the Zetas so that the extraction team could get away with the prisoner. The extraction team would run the whole op calling commands in Spanish. With any luck, the job would be credited to well trained cartel mercenaries looking to profit from the information. Crude, but effective.

But, Spec Ops is a small world. A lot of the Zetas and Kappas knew each other. Someone would be recognized. They had to pick team without any familiar faces. 42 came up.

Havin' been officially idle for so long, they wouldn't have had any contact with foreign teams. At the time, Trigger was the team officer in charge and Crash was the only other officially military member of the team. Kap-42 was disposable, and conveniently little known.

The job was meant to be a black op. No one would ever know the Americans had been involved. If the job went south, the government could just denounce the team as what their cover made 'em look like, traitors working as mercenaries for the cartels. Orders were clear. No one could ever know it was the Americans. No one was supposed to die, but if the Zetas figured it out, they were… disposable. Kap-42 had orders to kill anyone who could link the job back to the Americans.

To the team, this was their chance to get back on the map. If this op went well, they might be able to start working back toward official missions.

The plan was a simple one, but with a bunch of parts that could go wrong. Most of the dogs on Kap-42 were recruited civilians, not trained military fighters. Zetas train from birth. Even the Kaps will admit we're usually better in a one on one fight. That, and if they had to fight while trying to grab the guy directly, they would have to make it look like they were fighting the other Kappa team as well. It would never work. So, they came up with the kind of creative crap that still makes them so effective.

When the teams transporting the prisoner got to the switching yard, Kap-42 would follow them and get on top of whichever train the teams took, ready to slam the doors shut and trap the whole lot of 'em inside. Then, they'd smoke the car. Their team pyro had figured out that the humans like to burn a certain kind of plant and breathe the smoke. It makes 'em all loopy. So, they figured it would probably work on dogs too. They'd drop a burnin' load o' the stuff they'd stolen off the humans into the car, wait until everybody was incapacitated, then jump in, shout some stuff in Spanish, and snatch the prisoner. The teams would be too intoxicated to chase after 'em, assumin' they were still conscious. The Kappas would have to get gassed along with the others, or else it would look suspicious."

Roland stopped, glaring off into space.

"Well?"Kate prompted. "What happened? And if it was so secret then how do you know?"

"What can go wrong, will," Roland muttered. "They set the ambush and waited. When the teams showed up, they found the first snag. Some idiot in American intelligence didn't do his homework. It was Tony's team, the one Crash had worked with before he was transferred.

The fix was pretty easy. Crash would just have to stay out of sight and sit out the actual extraction. They put Crash at the back of the group and kept him about ten cars back when they moved up to shut the doors.

That's where they hit the next snag. They were supposed to be split into two groups, one on each door, and one member each waiting to throw the latch. Crash's group was a dog short. It shouldn't have been a problem, but the door stuck. The other side closed first and distracted the teams long enough for the prisoner to jump out and make a run for it. One of the Zetas managed to follow him before they finally got the second door closed and locked. As luck would have it, it was Tony.

The prisoner crossed a few sets eh tracks and jumped onto a train headed in the opposite direction with Tony right behind 'im. Crash was the only one in a good enough spot to run 'em down.

Crash made it into the same car and helped Tony bring the guy down. He was putting up quite a fight. The guy was a Zeta after all, and they were the only things between him and freedom. Once they had him unconscious, they chucked him out o' the car and jumped out after 'im. Crash made some quick story about the Kaps sending a second team to help escort the prisoner and what good timing they'd had. Tony didn't buy it, but he trusted his friend.

Crash's orders were clear. Kill anyone who would link the op back to the Americans. He hit Tony from behind and knocked him out. Then he hesitated, though. Killing an enemy is one thing, but Tony was his friend. Guess he waited too long, or didn't hit Tony as hard as he thought, 'cause Tony came to an' woke up swingin'. He got Crash by surprise and they rolled into a human road that ran beside the tracks right as a human car drove by. Tony had Crash pinned when the car hit 'im. Knocked Tony 'bout a hundred feet down the road and left Crash sittin' there without a scratch. Wheels went right around 'im.

Crash left Tony for dead. Threw the knocked out prisoner over 'is back and ran. Couldn't bear to look at what he did to his friend.

The others gassed the train car anyway and left it latched and headed north to buy time. They handed the prisoner off to some government types at the border an' that was it.

The whole thing looked like a successful mission. Both governments sent about a dozen teams to try and track down the cartel team that took the prisoner and killed Tony. To sell the story, 42 started spreadin' the word around through the criminal lowlife types that the prisoner was for sale to the highest bidder, whether that was the Zetas, the Americans, or another gang. About eight weeks later the guy turned up dead. The Americans must have gotten all they needed from him. Everyone assumed the kidnappers had gotten nervous and decided to dump him an' run. Smooth sailing. 42 got a pat on the back.

Everything went fine until a few months later when Tony turned up at SOCOM. The car hadn't killed 'im, just knocked 'im out, broke half a dozen ribs and fractured 'is spine. The tough old wolf had found shelter and holed up until he was fit to travel, then made his way home up the west coast through western territory to avoid tipping off the Americans. Then he went straight to SOCOM and told them who really attacked 'em at the switching yard.

Right about then, the whole deal hit the fan. As promised, the Americans saved face by disowning 42 as traitors. They ran, and disappeared into the cities somewhere along the east coast. The political fallout after that was a mess. The two Kappa teams operating in Canada at the time were detained and interrogated for as much information as we could get out of them. Things got so heated the Americans sent additional teams to get them out before somebody died. Neither job went smoothly. Lives were lost. There were skirmishes up and down the border as each side accused the other of intruding across the border or trying to stir up trouble. There was witch hunt for spies on both side of the border. There's no telling how many were found out or falsely accused in that mess. Four Zetas were executed for treason. One of the candidates for that seat on the council managed to take credit for discovering two of them and it was enough to win him the job.

Even after all that, the American higher ups must have gotten what they needed because after a while they found a way to make contact with 42 and started passing them new missions under the table. Officially, they were just a rogue gang of fugitives and war criminals. It gave them an advantage. They were already outlaws, so why follow the law? It made them a useful recourse whenever the higher- ups needed a job done quietly or off the books, or in places the military wasn't supposed to be, like western territory. That's how we met them. There got to be rumors in the lower ranks of the American forces about an elite team of "Ghosts" who ran black ops and secret missions without backup and had a habit of burning down old buildings. To anyone with the clearance to know they existed, they got a reputation for pulling off missions everyone else thought were impossible.

Being fugitives gave them some leverage of their own as well. They were already outlaws, so they didn't actually _have_ to do anything. They don't work for anyone because their own government disowned them. If they turn down an order, what are the higher ups going to do about it? Right now, Kap-42 is workin' with us because they feel like it. Nox and Sasha and I 're supposed to be dead, and we'd prefer to stay that way, so it works out, and keeps our profile low so we can track Haldric without tippin' him off, 'though we've pretty much blown that advantage lately.

I know the whole story 'cause Crash told me. Most folks don't have any idea.

Point of all that is, sometimes in this job, there aren't any good options, and doin' nothin' might be even worse. Friends and family turnin' traitor, havin' to break rules and lie to do what's right, decidin' who lives and who dies, that's the kind of mess you're getting' into." Roland finally looked her in the eye. "Can you handle that?"

Kate didn't answer, still trying to process everything she'd heard. "How… how can you trust them? How can you work with them if they…"

Roland smiled. "Welcome to Spec Ops," he said dryly. "Like I said, Kap-42 is unique. They're no one's puppet anymore. And, we've worked together in the past. I'd trust everyone on this train car with my life. I've done it before. With any other Kap team… most of the time, we and the Kaps are on the same side, but it's good to keep your back to a wall just the same. We're on the same side, but never the same team."

Kate heard Tony's words again. _Spec Ops doesn't work like a pack, Kate. You don't know what you're getting into._

Crash and Decca sat still playing their game, oblivious to everything around them. At the moment, they were in the middle of a staring contest while the two games of paw slap went on uninterrupted.

"Kid, here it is," Crash said. "Ye done good, but this here's mah turf," _Slap!_ "And we're almost to Rathdrum. Even if," _Slap! "_Yew start makin' some miraculous comeback,"_ Slap! _ "Ye'll never catch up in time. But, ah like to keep things interestin'. So, my one time offer is this. This srtarin' match, right now, all or nothing fer the win! Yew game, 'r chicken youngster?"

Decca grinned, eyes watering. "You're on, gramps!"

For about half a minute, nothing happened. They starred intensely, sporadically continuing the games of paw slap without looking, trying to make the other blink. Crash developed a twitch in one eye. Then, suddenly, he puckered his lips and blew a sharp puff of air straight at Decca's eye. Decca blinkd and jerked away startled, pawing at his eye.

Everyone in the car burst out laughing while Crash jumped to his feet and pranced in a small circle. "Score one fer age and treachery! Bahw to yer elder, boy!"

Kate scowled. "But, he cheated," she muttered.

Roland chuckled beside her. "There's no such thing as cheatin', love. Only winnin' an' losin'."

Crash rose up on his hind legs, one paw over his chest, the other outstretched dramatically. _"Ah, am, the Champion!"_ he sang, twirling once around and staggering backwards towards the door. "_Ah, am, the Champion! Of the Woooooorl-" _

Crash's off-key, warbling long note was cut short as he stepped back into empty space and toppled out of the train car. The last thing Kate saw was his startled face, eyes bulging out of his head in surprise.

Kate leapt up and ran to the door.

Across the car, Siren had her head in one paw, massaging her temple. "_El viejo loco se ha caído otra vez_," the collie sighed. "_Ay, mi vida_." With an expression of weary exasperation, Siren got to her paws and followed Kate to the door.

Kate reached the opening and plunged her head into the rush of air outside the speeding train. She looked back the way the train had come and saw, quickly dwindling into the distance, the still wildly tumbling form of a dog surrounded by a billowing cloud of dust. A gravel strip ran alongside the train tracks, with dense forest beyond.

Siren appeared beside Kate, gazing in the same direction. "Come on, let's go and get him." The collie said. Without another word, she jumped from the car, angling back toward the direction the train had come to counter as much of its speed as possible. She landed on all four paws and skidded gracefully to a stop amid a cloud of dust.

Kate pulled her head back into the car and looked around at the others for some idea of how to respond to this.

The others were already standing. "Kappas, roll out," Trigger ordered.

"You heard 'im, everybody off!" Roland called.

Nox scowled. "Do we really have to go after him? He's already lost us time. Surely we'd be better off without the old fool."

"After what happen last time we left Crash to his own devices? No, better to keep him with us," Trigger answered.

Nox scowled deeper. "True."

The two teams then proceeded to leap from the car in rapid, precise succession, each landing exactly as Siren had, jumping in the opposite direction of the train's motion and skidding to a stop with all four paws spread wide for balance. The only one to jump differently was Decca, who leapt straight out from the train and landed facing sideways. As he hit the gravel track, he curled into a ball and rolled sideways to break his fall.

Before Kate realized it, she was the last one in the train car. No, she corrected herself, not quite. The only other rider who had yet to jump was the German shepherd, the one they had called Ripper. Kate hadn't heard him speak a word to anyone during the entire trip.

Kate stepped up to the door, and realized that this wouldn't be as simple as it looked. The only other time she had ever jumped from a train had been on the journey back to Jasper. The train had barely been moving as it crawled along the winding tracks that navigated the rocky terrain near where the packs had met, about to go to war. For this trip, she and the Zetas had had to board the train in a different place in order to reach it in time.

Now, the train was hurtling at top speed over flat ground on straight tracks.

She was startled when Ripper spoke beside her. "Jump like Decca did. Go straight out from the train, and make sure you land on all four paws. As soon as your paws touch the ground, bring your back legs up to your belly and use your forelegs to protect your head. Keep your paws in tight. Jumping like the others isn't something you can learn on your first jump, and if you do it wrong you're likely to break a leg. Decca is out of practice and exhausted. That's why he did it like this."

"Ok," Kate said. _Just that simple, huh? _she thought with irritation. Then, putting any fear aside, she jumped. As Kate soared into empty space, the wind whipping past her fur with frightening speed, her every blood vessel pulsed with enough adrenaline to all but paralyze her. As the ground rushed up to meet her, she just had time to follow Rippers instructions. As she hit the ground, her paws were wrenched violently out from underneath her as the ground sped past. She curled into a ball and rolled to break her fall. The motion felt natural, intuitive. That didn't stop it from hurting as the world orbited her in rapid circles, the ground pummeling her body from all directions as she rolled for what felt like forever before finally coming to a stop amid her own cloud of choking gravel dust.

As Kate tried to stand, she found with a sense of panic that she couldn't breathe or move. The impact had caused all the muscles in her back and abdomen to lock up, as well as her diaphragm muscle, preventing her from getting any air. It took several moments of concentration and near panic to unclench her lungs and take a gasping breath of air. Now that she could move, Kate rolled onto her belly and forced herself dizzily to her paws, feeling a new line of pain down one shoulder as the world continued to spin. Kate coughed, spitting out dust and gravel. Examining her shoulder, she found a line of blood where a sharp rock or other debris had cut her.

Looking around, she saw Ripper walking calmly towards her, his gaze impassive.

"That was supposed to be _safer?_" she snarled.

Ripper didn't flinch. "Now imagine falling like Crash did. If we do much more train hopping, you'll have to learn how to land properly, but for now, this is the safest way. We should go join the others." He started past Kate, but looked away sharply when he saw the wound on her shoulder. "You're hurt. How badly?" He kept his gaze averted and continued past without looking at her.

Kate frowned at his odd behavior. "I'm fine," she answered. "It's just a scratch." _What? _she thought._ Is he scared of blood or something? _

"Good. Let's go," he said, still without looking back.

The group was spread out over a half mile beside the tracks. When Kate and Ripper got back to where Crash had fallen, they found the others gathered around his unconscious form. Decca was favoring one shoulder as if he'd injured it, and Roland had left a trail of bloody paw prints. He must have cut one of his pads during his landing.

Siren was trying to shake Crash awake. "_Viejo!_ This is no time for a nap! You have lost us enough time already!" Scowling, she took a step back and kicked him in the ribs. "_Despiértate_!"

Crash coughed and opened his eyes. "Oh, come on, yall," he whined. "There were steaks and sausages and _bacon…" _

Nox wasn't amused. "We have a mission to finish you damn old fool! Thanks to you, we're on foot now."

Decca fidgeted absently and didn't meet anyone's eye.

Roland allowed a small smile. "Had me worried there for a sec," he said. "Thought you mighta finally killed yerself this time."

"Ha!" Crash scoffed, rolling to his feet and shaking each of his paws in turn. "It'll take more'n a li'l tumble to off this old geezer."

Siren shook her head in exasperation. "One of these days, your old bones are going to break, _Viejo."_

Kate watched him get to his paws in some amazement. Somehow, the elderly foxhound didn't even seem to be injured. "How is he-"

"Alive?" Decca finished. "That's Crash for you."

"We need to make Rathdrum by nightfall," Roland announced.

"We need food as well," Trigger said. "This is your target, Roland. How do you want to go about it?"

"We can try an' get a few squirrels on the way, but we don't have time to stop and hunt. If we don't pass any, then we'll 'ave to get food in Rathdrum."

"Squirrels?" Kate asked.

"We try to avoid taking large game when we want pass through an area quietly," Decca explained. "With small animals, it's easier to hide the kill and there's less chance of running into another wolf stalking the same target. Squirrels are the most common, so that's what we eat a lot of. Takes a while to learn how to catch 'em, but they're everywhere."

Kate frowned. "When you suggested eating squirrels back in jasper, I thought you were joking. You almost took a beating for that 'bad joke.' But… you made _friends_ with the squirrels. I've even seen them joining in your little omega games."

"Yeah…," Decca said uneasily. "They're pretty friendly if you bring them enough acorns. They got used to running from cats in the Rockies, so hunting them normally was pretty much impossible up there. I… had to get creative. I picked up kind of a black sense of humor during that couple of years… As an omega, making friends with them just kinda made sense. When I suggested eating squirrels, I was serious, but, well, I had a change of heart at the last second. I couldn't eat Dave and Eddy…They were part of the gang by that point…"

Nox gave Decca an odd look. "I think you spent too long around cats, Decca. I've heard of 'playing with your food' but that's not usually what it means."

"Come on," Sasha said with a frown. "Let's get going."

Crash groaned. "Good grief, ya'll, dontcha eat anything but squirrels? An' ah aint pickin'outta any more dumpsters, y' hear? If we see a hotdog cart, ah'm robbin' 'im fer all 'e's got!"

"Fine," Nox said. "Just don't expect any help from us. You dogs do it often enough to go unnoticed, but what would the humans think if a pack of wolves ambushed a hotdog vendor?"

Kate sighed. "Ok, I give up," she said. "What is Crash talking about?"

Decca tried to answer. "Hotdogs are human food. It's like a… well it's shaped like… on this little…"

"Ye gotta try the ones with sauerkraut!" Crash interrupted. "Or maybe chili…" he said reverently, lapsing into a thousand yard stare and licking his chops.

"You lot can daydream about human food later," Roland called. "Now shutup, an' move out. We've got a lot o' ground to make up."

Kate groaned inwardly. _Ugh, more running. _She stretched painfully, arching her spine to try and loosen her back, then joined the others as they set off, quickly picking up speed. Her stomach rumbled. _I wonder what squirrel tastes like?_

"And lolly pops," Crash said, still distracted. "Little babies wave 'em around like they _want_ ya t' steal it. An' then there's those pretzel things, an' _cupcakes_-"

"No," Decca said quickly. "No cupcakes…"

'

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"_El viejo loco se ha caído otra vez...__Ay, mi vida_." / "The crazy old one has fallen again...Oh, my life."

_"Despiértate!" _/ "Wake yourself!"

'

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**Author's Note-**

**The mashed potatoes are upset. They always get picked last for dodge ball... **

**Leave a review or I'll sic my OC's on you! There is nowhere in North America for you to hide! [If you happen to be that reader in Singapore, I guess you're safe...]**

**Many thanks to all readers for your time! Hope you like the story so far. Goodbye for now!**

**Later! -Sarge **


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

**So I had this fun off-topic idea… Transplant some of these OC's into an Assassins Creed story… maybe in medieval times, maybe a group of modern assassins with guns… Don't worry, this story will still be finished and given my utmost effort. I really want to get The Zeta War fleshed out and finished; I love this idea. But expect to see these characters in other stories I may write.**

**There is also a poll up on my profile page because I'm curious to know who remembers Frank from the movie.**

**Spanish translated at the bottom. **

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_**|˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·˙|**_

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The teams reached Rathdrum in the late afternoon of the following day. They had stopped just before dark the previous evening and spent the night under the shelter of a natural cave in a stream bank. Along the way, Nox and Siren had broken off from the group to hunt, returning with half a dozen squirrels and a rabbit. It wasn't much to split between nine hungry canines, but no one complained.

The following morning, Roland had roused them all well before sunrise, at "o'dark thirty" as he cheerfully called it. Decca had taken some effort to wake, and Siren had to kick Crash again, but soon enough they were off.

Upon reaching the city of Rathdrum, they had skirted the city limits, avoiding the human and canine inhabitants. As human cities went, it wasn't terribly impressive, really more of a town. There were no imposing sky scrapers, or massive highways, making it a quiet looking little town. The train tracks cut through the western edge of Rathdrum. It took less than an hour to circle around toward the southern part of Rathdrum, moving east to avoid anyone who might be watching the tracks.

Now, the team waited, watching from the cover of an ancient pile of scrap metal as a group of five dogs loitered near the base of a plain one-story concrete building at the outskirts of the settlement.

"That one on the left calls himself Brutus." Trigger told the rest of the group, indicating a gray furred Great Dane. "He's the head of the local trafficking operation. Nasty fellow, but an amateur. Should be an easy mark. Siren? You're up. Go earn your name."

"Too easy," Siren said, in a breathy, girlish voice that betrayed only a hint of her accent. She raised her tail and adopted a seductive strut as she strode out past them into the open. The rest of the group made their way stealthily to the corner of the building and slipped down a dark side alley and around the back.

Crash leapt onto a dumpster, then jumped again and scrambled onto the flat concrete roof. Nox faded into the shadows and waited, pressed unmoving against the opposite wall of the back alley. The rest of the group hid behind the dumpsters and other debris in the ally.

"What are we doing?" Kate hissed, crouched just behind Roland.

"Siren is busy convincing our new friend the gang leader to visit this alley alone. Then we're going to ask him a few questions," Roland muttered back.

A moment later, Siren appeared around the far end of the back alley, shedding her artificial demeanor and smiling. She twitched one ear in a clear signal, and kept walking until she was past Nox and Crash. Then, the collie sat with her back to the trap and daintily examined the claws on her right front paw. "_El pendejo no tiene ninguna idea de lo que viene," _she said with a smile.

Even as she spoke, Brutus the Great Dane sauntered confidently into the alley. "Where'd you get to, pretty thing? Come on over here and—"

Nox flew from the shadows and drove one shoulder into the larger dog's ribs, knocking the air out of the Dane's lungs and driving him into the concrete wall of the alley, leaving the gang leader briefly stunned. Before he could recover, Nox grabbed him by the throat and hurled him staggering back into the alley. Crash leapt from his perch atop the building and landed violently on the big dogs shoulders. Brutus hit the ground hard, landing on his side and getting the breath driven out of his lungs a second time. He lay gasping for air with Crash pinning him down. Trigger and Roland emerged from the shadows, followed by the rest of the group. Nox used his front paws to pin the Dane's back paws in place, while Ripper pinned the front ones and Crash continued to sit on their victim's ribs. Siren strode over to his head and placed one paw ever so gently on the Dane's throat.

"If you make a sound, _chico_," she said quietly, no longer hiding her thick Spanish accent, "I will tear out your throat and smile down at you while you die."

Brutus snarled. "You idiots know who the fuck you're messin' with? I run this town."

Trigger chuckled. "Really? This whole cute little place? Well, that's nice, but for the time being we are in charge, so shut up. I don't see any of your friends here to help you, but maybe you'd prefer it that way. No need for them to know how easy it was for this 'pretty little thing' to lure you into a back alley and get you jumped on your own territory," he said pointedly. "Besides, it wouldn't be too difficult to go find Brass and his team and tell them to come shut down this little town that _you_ run. Unless you think you can handle Kap-43 burning down your operation. But that's beside the point, because these friends of mine from the north will tear you apart long before you have to worry about the Kaps. They're wolves. They can be very scary if they choose."

"Ooh, Canadians! I'm shakin' in my fur. Your little puta here already threatened to—"

Siren pressed down on his throat, silencing him. He tried to struggle, but with no success.

As his thrashing grew more desperate, Roland chuckled. "Na, she threatened t' kill y' quickly. We'll make sure to take our sweet time about it."

Decca and Sasha stepped up on either side of Roland and glowered threateningly.

"Now that we understand each other," Roland said pleasantly, "Y' can let him breathe, Siren."

The collie didn't move. "No," she said with a sadistic smile, "I don't think I will. Not until he apologizes for calling me that awful name."

Brutus struggled even harder, his jaw working furiously, but no sound came out.

"What's that _chico_? I can't hear you."

Roland sighed. "Brutus, move yer right ear to express yer most humble apology, and to assure my friend of just how much y' regret yer foul language."

Brutus twitched his right ear frantically, and Siren lifted her paw, allowing him to take in a huge, gasping breath.

"So, we're looking for something," Trigger continued, as if nothing had happened. "And I think you can help us. Think very hard about everything that's come through here in the past few days. Did anything stand out? Any odd shipments?"

Brutus looked as though he would have liked to say something rude instead, but Siren dragged one claw threateningly along his pulsing jugular vein. Brutus answered with another hateful snarl. "Only train that came through here in the last week had about a dozen wolves on it. They kept heading south on foot."

"Really? Anything else?"

"I told you, that's the only shipment through here in the last week."

"And how do I know you're not lying to save your own worthless hide?"

"I aint lyin', ask around, jump somebody else, you'll get the same answer."

"Then surely you can tell us a little more about them? Something specific?"

Siren pressed threateningly with her paw.

"Alright, alright! They came in about two days ago! Ah, one of 'em had a dead lookin' eye, big black wolf, seemed like he was in charge. They had a couple o' beat up lookin' birds, too, that's it! Seriously!"

"How interesting. Well, I think that's everything we need. Siren, if you would."

Siren smiled maliciously, then lifted her paw and brought it crashing back down on the Great Dane's jaw bone, knocking him out cold. As, the three dogs holding him down backed away, Siren took hold of one of the Dane's large ears in her jaws and lifted his head off the ground as far as his limp neck would allow, then dropped it, just to make sure he was really out. Brutus's head thudded dully against the ground. The big dog didn't stir.

Trigger turned to Roland. "That was enlightening. The only thing within two days journey south of here is the Spokane River, with nothing but sparsely populated cropland in between. If they mean to keep Paddy and Marcel somewhere in the cropland, they shouldn't be hard to find. The locals will know everything that happens in that area, and with no tree cover, the birds will be able to search it easily.

If they keep moving, they'll use the river. They would have to head for either Post Falls or Huetter. Post falls is too highly populated, so Huetter is the more likely. We can head that way. We need to put some distance between us and Rathdrum before nightfall, and preferably before our friend wakes up."

Roland nodded. "Let's get moving then. How far is Huetter?"

"About half a day, maybe a few hours as fast as you Zetas usually travel." Addressing Siren and Ripper he said, "You two, drag this idiot behind a dumpster and let's get out of here."

While the collie and the German shepherd hauled the unconscious Great Dane toward the dumpster Crash had used to reach the roof, Kate had another question for Roland. "If his gang are 'traffickers,' then what are they trafficking? What would dogs want to smuggle?"

"Well, some of them are just harmless merchants bartering human trinkets and food," Roland began.

Trigger took over from there. "The more dangerous ones will move all sorts of stolen human goods. We confiscated an entire train car full of fireworks once. How they managed to get that past the humans is anybody's guess. Smoke had a field day with the things. When you meet him, look for the big round scar on his left haunch. He thought it was a good idea to tie his tail to one of the big ones and light it off. The maniac flew twenty feet in the air, burnt most of the fur off his rear end and nearly lost his tail when the thing exploded. We had to toss the rest of the stash for his own good.

Anyway, they do all sorts of other smuggling too. Supplies for gang wars, bounty hunters and their catch, major payouts to and from mob bosses, assassins, hostages, or anything else, really. For the biggest gangs, the cargo of choice is usually unwilling female passengers. It's also a good way for fugitives to travel without leaving much of a trail, kind of like our target now. Basically, it's Hell's postal service.

The trafficking gangs act like travel agents, arranging open train cars and keeping the humans from figuring out what's going on. In places with ongoing local turf wars, or heavy police work from dogs like us, they ensure the safety and or secrecy of the client's cargo, for a fee.

We're only leaving Brutus here alive because despite being such an idiot, he seems to have the local operation pretty much under his control. We like to leave weak leaders in place because they make good puppets and informants to get at the bigger fish, if you know how to lean on them. We might even chip in from time to time to make sure they aren't replaced. We'll see him again."

Just then, there came the familiar sound of labored wing beats. Kate looked up to see a midsized pigeon, Frank, flapping towards them. He soared down into the alley, and skidded to a halt like a clumsy human airplane. "Whe' the hell 'ave you lot been? I've been flyin' all over this state workin' my tailfeathers off an' you lot are skulking in an alley, a day late to the rendezvous!"

"We lost time a ways north of here. Crash fell off the train again," Trigger answered.

"That crusty old cur is gonna botch this whole thing!"

"We just got through interrogating the local gang leader," Nox said, trying to fill Frank in on what they had learned. "They came through here by train and headed south on foot towards—"

"No shit slowness!" Frank interrupted. "Rafka and me already found 'em, they're on a fishing boat docked just upriver from Huetter, now come on, th' duck an' th' goose are runnin' outta time! Rafka's already got the othas headin' this way, they'll meet us there, now get a damn move on!"

Trigger switched into high gear immediately. "Everybody move out! We can make Huetter before midnight if we run now."

"Are you sure that's the best plan?" Ripper asked, marking only the third time Kate had ever heard him speak. "We'll be exhausted when we get there and if Brutus had his numbers right, we'll be outnumbered, not to mention we might be up against Zetas. If they have any kind of bird support, they'll see us coming."

"Paddy and Marcel might not have any time to lose," Decca countered. "We have to get there now."

"We can go through the city to get close and recon the boat before we hit it," Trigger said, thinking. "If there's time to rest up and wait for the rest of the team, we'll take it, but better to get there fast just in case. As for any birds they may have looking out for us, we'll have to take our chances. It'll be dark soon, so hopefully moving at night will help."

"If we get there before sunrise, Nox can handle the recon," Roland added. "He can get their exact numbers and a visual on Paddy and Marcel. He's never bin caught yet."

"That's our plan then," Tigger said. "We'll try to make Huetter at least a few hours before dawn, then Nox will recon the ship before we make our next move. Roll out."

"Finally!" Frank cried. "Takes you land lova's foreva' to get anywhere. Ugh, more flyin'. When am I eva' gonna get some sleep…"

As the group started back down the alley, Nox stopped beside the haggard looking pigeon. "Hitch a ride, Frank. You're exhausted, and you look like hell."

Frank brightened considerably at this. "Damn, thanks a million ol' buddy," he said, grate fully fluttering up to alight on Nox's shoulders, where he laced his feet into the wolf's fur and flopped forward, using his wings to hold himself in place. He resembled a human sleeping in a horse saddle. "I owe you one," he muttered, already drowsy.

"Get some sleep old friend. You did well."

As they started off, keeping to the afternoon shadows until they were free of the city, Kate thought sleep seemed very far away. It would be awhile before anyone else got to sleep again.

She also thought to wonder how a pigeon and a wolf ever became such close friends.

"

_**|˙·٠•Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ•٠·˙|**_

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"_El pendejo no tiene ninguna idea de lo que viene." / "the fool has no idea what's coming."_


End file.
